


The Fool in Reverse

by bookwormally



Category: Kingdom Hearts
Genre: Canon Rewrite, Canon-Typical Violence, Multi, Roleswap, characters will be tagged as they appear, relationships are gen for now, the notes I have for this are so long, we're going to be skipping most of the disney stuff
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-08-02
Updated: 2020-05-03
Packaged: 2020-07-29 14:28:55
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 10
Words: 20,947
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20083735
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bookwormally/pseuds/bookwormally
Summary: Kairi, Princess of Heart, takes hold of the key that night in Destiny Islands.Sora, heart ripped from body, takes refuge with someone he didn't expect.Riku begins his long walk to daybreak.Roleswap! Where I only swap the roles I want and write a couple things I've always wanted to see.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi! I'm doing another long project because I don't know how to stop myself and the idea keeps chewing at me. Updates for this will definitely be more sporadic as there's a lot for me to work out the details on and motivation is fickle.
> 
> But, I'm really excited to start this and I'm already a few chapters deep, so it won't remain a single teasing chapter, I promise!
> 
> So, here we go~!

Winds tear at the trees and toss the waves, but it’s nothing like any storm he’s seen before. Sora works his arms to burning to get out to the play island, to their raft. After all their work, he can’t bear to see it get torn apart. Water splashes over the edge of his boat, soaking into his shoes. Sora blinks it from his eyes and pulls at the oars again.

Finally, he spots the dock and fights over the waves to reach it. The knots are rushed, but he makes them tight; his boat could be  _ gone _ in this mess and then he’d have no way back. Lightning cracks the sky and he looks up in alarm. He’s never seen a storm go purple and his mouth dries.

Swallowing hard, Sora races up the dock. His shoes have only just hit the soaked sand when the shadows start moving. He freezes in place, eyes darting from the shadows under the trees to the ones clustered around the treehouse. They twitch and writhe and creatures rise from them. Yellow eyes and twitching claws move toward him and this must be a nightmare.  _ It has to be. _

He forces himself to move, dodging away from the monsters and running toward the only clear path. His fingers grab at the stone walls of the tunnel and he pulls himself faster through its twists and turns. The claws scratching at his ankles disappear as he bursts into the cave, breathing hard.

He’s not alone. Riku stands at the other end, one hand on the strange wooden door that’s always been there. “Riku?” Sora calls, panting. The other boy doesn’t turn. “Riku!”

“We can leave,” Riku says, in a voice too soft and strange to be his. “I want to get out of here.”

Light flashes and with a groan the door swings open. Sora throws up his arms as energy explodes from the doorway, dark and writhing. Riku disappears as he’s forced to squeeze his eyes shut. Everything is dark and Sora stumbles blindly forward. He just has to...get it  _ shut… _

He rams into something hard and presses both of his hands against it. Claws scratch at his arms, his back, but Sora shoves just a bit harder and the door is closed. He can feel it struggling against him and opens his eyes. Something is dripping from his arms, red and black and unreal.

“Oh,” he mumbles, so tired all of a sudden. 

“Sora!” Kairi’s voice echoes in the cave, close and so much more real than Riku’s had been.

“Kai-?” Sora starts to lift a hand to her and the door explodes back open.

For a second, he feels the warmth of arms around him and then everything is dark.

* * *

The last thing Sora remembers is the island and the storm.

When he opens his eyes again, neither of these things are present. He's on a cold floor in a dark space that reminds him too much of the howling void he saw so briefly beyond the door. He sits up slowly, blinking as his eyes adjust. The light is coming from below him and he looks down, confused. He swears he's had a dream like this before.

Stained glass in a light purple spreads below his feet. On it, a girl is sitting with her eyes closed, a giant flowered key in one hand. Sora stands up and now he can clearly see that it's Kairi. He wraps his arms around himself and looks at the rest of the platform. His face and Riku's are in circles near Kairi's head. A bunch of flowers rest in another, flowers Sora's never seen on the Islands. All around the platform is darkness.

He rubs his arms. "Where am I?"

"In some serious trouble, but also safe, I think." The cheerful voice with just a hint of a lisp comes from right behind him and Sora whirls around. There's no one there.

"W-Who?"

"Sorry, sorry, I didn't know you could hear me now." It's the same voice and Sora turns again. Some of the light from below him floats gently upward and then pulls together. A teenager appears with blond spiky hair and strange armor on one shoulder. His face is friendly and he’s smiling like they’re already friends. He waves with one lifted hand. "Hi, Sora."

"Hi. Who are you? What do you mean I'm in trouble but safe too?" Sora squints at him and there's something vaguely familiar about him. Is that why he already knows his name?

"I'm Ven. It's nice to meet you." Ven rubs the back of his head. "It's complicated. To make it really, really simple, you're in Kairi's heart."

Sora's face goes red. "I'm  _ what? _ "

"Oh boy." Ven holds up both hands. “Okay, let’s go back. What do you remember?” As if to help ease the situation, he takes a seat on the stained glass; like it’s a regular introduction or a normal conversation. The sense of familiarity just grows stronger.

Sora drops into a seat across from him with a thump that shakes him from head to toe. He tangles both hands in his hair. “I...It was storming? I was worried about our raft so I went to our island to make sure it wasn’t getting smashed on the rocks or something.” He glances at the other boy who nods like he’s completely sure of what Sora’s talking about.

_ Weird. _

“I got there. The sky was really weird, almost like being in the eye of a hurricane but not. And it was purple. The sky’s not supposed to be purple.”

“Not really, no.”

Sora tugs at his hair. “And then, this is going to sound totally crazy, but the shadows started moving.”

Ven frowns. “What color were they?”

“Uhhh shadow colored? But their eyes were all yellow.” Why is that the part to ask about? Ven’s definitely weird.

Ven bites his lip. “Okay, sounds pretty bad. Did they attack you?”

Sora shrugs. “They tried, but I ran. I don’t really know why, but they didn’t follow me into the secret place. But everything went way way worse there…” He explains in short, halting sentences about losing Riku and the door and Kairi at the very end. His finger traces a meaningless design over the glass. “But I don’t see how I can be in her heart!”

The other boy just blinks. “I can.”

“How?!”

Ven smiles and it looks self-deprecating. “This is a long story, but I’m going to give you the basics, okay?”

Sora nods.

“So, I’m here with you because I’m currently in your heart.” Ven folds his hand over the top of his knee and waits.

Sora tips his head. “So, you’re not like an imaginary heart guide or something.”

“No, I’m as real as you.” Ven cracks a much more genuine smile. “You probably don’t remember, but about ten years ago, I came to you and asked for your help. I was in a pretty bad fight and had to do some pretty bad things. It hurt my heart so badly that I would have died if I stayed in my body.”

“But, maybe luckily for me, I was pulled from it when I was hurt. I was drawn here to you. I asked if I could stay and you said yes.”

Sora frowns, trying to remember anything from ten years ago. It’s all sun-soaked memories of him and Riku running down the beach and up the hills around town until a girl washed onto the play island. “I...don’t remember at all. But, I hope things have been nice for you?”

Ven laughs. “It’s been a lot of sleeping, don’t worry about it.” He drops his chin onto his hands. “So, I’m in your heart because I got hurt and needed to recover. It doesn’t sound like you got hurt in the same way, but hm…” He squints at Sora. “My guess is that Kairi somehow grabbed hold of your heart before you could be killed. She’s not from here, right?”

“No. She showed up one day and couldn’t really remember anything. That’s part of why we were going to explore the worlds.” Sora sighs and looks over at Kairi’s sleeping face. “I guess...Riku really wanted any way out.”

_ ‘I want to get out of here.’ _

_ But what about them? _ He can’t ask a Riku who’s not here. Sora hugs his knees and buries his face against them. “Can this all be a really bad nervous dream?”

Something warm rubs at his back. “I wish,” Ven says softly. “It’ll be okay, Sora. We’re with Kairi and she’s strong, right? I bet…” His voice trails off, but then he forges on, brighter than before. “I bet she’s already trying to track Riku down and then get you both home safe and sound.”

He squeezes his legs a bit tighter and really, really hopes it’s a dream. “I hope they’re both okay.”

Ven’s silent for a long moment. “...Yeah, Sora, me too.”

They sit in the subdued purple light and wait.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Basics to know: BBS happened the same, so the wayfinders are all where you expect them to be. The order of worlds and such is definitely still going to be the same because I do not have it in me to entirely create or rearrange everything.
> 
> Chapter 2 is really the more fun chapter, but I wrote Sora & Ven first so they get to go first!
> 
> Hope you enjoyed!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> It hasn't even been a week, but I have no self-control and want to share a chapter with some real forward momentum. So here we go!

Sand is stuck all over the side of her face and Kairi blinks it from her eyes. She groans as she pushes herself half-up. Nothing looks right, the wind whipping everything into twisted shapes under the awful twisted sky. Fear seizes her and she forces herself to her feet as quickly as possible. “Sora? Riku?” She cups her hands around her mouth and shouts for them twice over. “Where are you?”

She saw Sora, she  _ saw _ him. He looked like he’d been clawed by a monster, but he was there. He’d been holding that door and then-.

Kairi flinches and squeezes her hands into her shirt.  _ Deep breaths. We’re okay. _ She forces herself to breathe. It’ll be okay.

The wind yanks her hair into her face and she holds it back. She has to find her boys; they must be here. She can’t see any sign of them on the deck or the beach, but as she looks up at the sky, she sees a figure out near the paopu tree. “Riku!” The wind must snatch her voice away, because he doesn’t turn.

Quickly, she runs into the shack and up the stairs. She throws open the door at the top and doesn’t wait for it to swing back before running across the bridge. “Riku!  _ Riku! _ ”

Finally, he turns. “Kairi!”

She stumbles to a stop in front of him, breathing hard. “Riku, where’s Sora? Have you seen him?”

Something flickers over Riku’s face. “I thought I did, but then there was all this wind…”

“Dammit.” Kairi wraps her arms around herself. “Maybe he’s in the cove? I don’t want to split up, but we’ve got to find him. There’s no way he stayed at home!”

Riku shakes his head. “No, no, it’s okay. Wherever Sora is, he’ll be coming with us. The door opened!”

Kairi looks at him. “What? Riku, what are you talking about?”

He waves a hand at something behind her. “The door, I opened it! Now we can really leave and see any world we want. We don’t need the raft!”

“What?” Kairi stares at him and there’s something in his face, his eyes. It’s the same thing she was trying to talk to Sora about, but he didn’t understand.  _ Something about Riku has changed. _ She takes a step back.

“Kai?” Riku looks at her, concerned. “Don’t you want to find your home?”

Kairi tightens her grip on her arms. “I...maybe. But Riku, we can’t leave without Sora. He could be hurt!”

“He’ll be fine! We’ll find him as soon as we can. It’s time to go.” Darkness like vines erupts around Riku, wrapping itself around his legs and climbing up his waist. She gasps, but he doesn’t move or struggle. He holds out a hand to her.

She looks at him, at the darkness that’s clung to him, and she shakes her head. “No. Riku, this isn’t right!”

His face twists into something hurt, something ugly. “Fine. I knew you didn’t want me around.”

“Wait! That’s not-!” But as Kairi staggers forward, one hand stretched out, the darkness wraps around him and then lunges for her. She throws her hands up and everything flashes white.

She blinks the spots from her vision, one hand heavy with something hard but warm. Colors, almost too bright for this awful night, are hard to comprehend. It looks like flowers grown over and around a...key?

_ Keyblade, _ a soft voice whispers to her, so kind. It reminds her of safety, a guardian. Kairi tightens her grip on it. It feels like a weapon.

“Okay,” she whispers as shadows start to pull themselves from the ground. Claws extend and yellow eyes taunt her.  _ Blood had been dripping from Sora’s arm, blood and something dark. _ She jumps forward and swings, cutting at one of the monstrous shapes. The blow lands, knocking it back. Kairi straightens up as the others shuffle toward her. “I don’t know what you are, but you’re not going to stop me or hurt my friends again!”

She swings with all the force of her fear and anger.

* * *

Sora rubs at his face, erasing any marks that might have appeared while he was memorizing the look of his arms up close. He feels a tiny bit calmer. This is all really weird, but...it might be okay. He swallows and wishes there was something more to this place. He could really use a drink.

Ven is still sitting beside him, one arm hooked around his knee, the other to Sora’s back. He’s staring up at the black, frowning, but doesn’t look really worried. At least his heart guide is comfortable with all this weird stuff. But if it’s in his head, then of course Ven would be. Sora sighs and drops his forehead onto his arms. “This is giving me a headache.”   
  
“Hm?”

“All this stuff! I don’t understand it. Like what’s the giant key Kairi is holding?” Sora waves a hand at the image they’re both sitting on. “I’ve never seen anything like that.”

Ven smiles at him. “That’s an easier answer. That’s a keyblade.” He holds a hand up, but it’s empty. Ven drops it with a sigh. “I have one too, but I can’t call it in here. They’re weapons of the heart and usually light.”

Sora squints at him. “How does your heart make a weapon?”

“Don’t you know, Sora?” Ven reaches out and taps his forehead. “Your heart is your most powerful weapon. The strength of your heart can do great things. Like save me!” Ven’s grin is clearly half-teasing and Sora shoves at him, going a little red.

“Shut up,” he mumbles. “I was four.”

“Which just means you’re a very giving person.” Ven bumps their shoulders together. His armor is thankfully on his other arm. “But, keyblades come to...okay, this sounds really stuck up. Keyblades can be passed to apprentices by masters, or they choose the, the worthy.” Ven rubs the top of his nose. “It sounds really dumb, but it’s not like...it doesn’t mean people without them are worse or anything. I don’t really know why I have the keyblade.”

Sora shrugs. “It just sounds like magic is real.”

“Well, people can use magic through the keyblade. But there are also worlds full of magic.”

“Really?!” Sora looks at him, feeling lighter than he has since he woke up. “There’s places where magic exists?”

Ven laughs. “Yeah. There’s even a world with pixies who can make you fly.”

“You can fly?!” Sora flops backward, imagining soaring through the black all around them. “That sounds amazing.”

“I met an alien in space once too.”

“What? No way!” Sora turns a frown on him. “Now you’re teasing me.”

Ven holds up a hand. “Swear on my life. I helped him break out of a big weird space jail ship.”

“There’s no way! That’s as fake as the kraken Riku was always trying to scare us with.” Sora sits back up, grabbing his ankles to rock forward and backward. “Tell me the truth, Ven.”

“I am! See, it started as I was cruising the Lanes Between…”

Caught up in Ven’s story, Sora can almost forget that everything’s gone so horribly wrong.

* * *

The Islands were torn apart, sucked into the sky, and Kairi awakens somewhere new for the second time in her life.

Staring at the neon signs and strange stone and brick buildings, Kairi wishes she could wake up in a new place that’s actually around the corner from home, just once. She groans and presses the heels of her hands to her eyes. “At least I remember everything that happened this time.” She drops her hands, one taking hold of her necklace for a moment.  _ I’ll be okay with this magic spell. _

“Is that how I’m here? Was it…” Kairi looks down at her hand. It seemed like a nightmare, but since she’s here… She lifts the hand and with a thought, the key appears again. “Not a dream, okay.” The key feels warm still and the waves on the handle remind her of home. She tightens her grip on it. “Riku, Sora, I’m going to find you. I promise.”

Lifting her head, she carefully sets the key on her back. Better to keep it close in case anymore monsters come after her. The building closest to her has a sign and she’s glad she can read it. What better place to find things out than a local shop?

She pulls the door open and blinks at how small it is; it looked bigger from the outside. The big, but unlit, fireplace probably isn’t helping things. The man behind the counter looks like one of the sailors she used to talk with by the docks and she approaches him with a smile. “Hi!”

“You new in town, kid?” He looks her over, eyes hesitating over her shoulder. Kairi frowns, but he shakes his head and goes back to the book he has in hand. “Got all kinds of supplies if you’re hurting. Directions too, not that there’s much of town to see right now.”

This is definitely the right place for information. Kairi puts her hands on her hips and tries to look confident. “Directions would be good. I’m new here and I’ve got lots of things to do. First, have you seen either a boy with brown spiky hair or one with long silver hair? It’s about to his shoulders.”

The man shakes his head. “Nope. You’re the first kid I’ve seen wander in. Almost everybody comes here first. Though, maybe they ended up with the others…” He closes the book with a thump. “Name’s Cid, by the way. I’m not much for niceties, but figure you should know whose shop you’re in.”

“I’m Kairi. I’m looking for my friends, Sora and Riku.” She sighs. “Those directions really would be good if you haven’t seen them.”

“Sure, kiddo. Let me get you a map.” He turns and rustles through the shelf behind the counter.

Kairi makes a face at his back. Ugh,  _ kiddo. _ She’s not ten. “Thank you, sir,” she says brightly.

Cid scoffs and turns back with a map in one hand. “That sounds like a chipmunk. Don’t do that.” He offers it over the counter. “Free. You come back here if you can’t find them and I’ll get you set up for the night, alright? Some friends of mine work at the inn.”

Kairi takes the map, already opening it up. “Yeah. Come back here to the...first district. Got it.”

“Good luck, kid.”

She stops in the doorway and makes a face at him. “It’s  _ Kairi _ , sir.”

Cid sticks his tongue out. “You’re a kid until you’re as old as me.”

“Oh no...I don’t know if I’ll live until I’m dust!” Kairi makes a sad face and then sticks her tongue back out at him.   
  
“Hey!”

Laughing, Kairi ducks out the door. Map in hand, she surveys this new place. There’s not too many places for Riku and Sora to hide. She squeezes the map. “I’m coming, guys.”


	3. Chapter 3

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Writing this is going to make me replay KH1 if only because I'm reminding myself of the parts I really like.

Traverse Town, at least that’s the name scrawled in the corner of the map, is weird. Divided into districts by big walls and doors, Kairi’s not sure what the plan was when the place was built. None of the districts are that big either, but she’s been running in and out of eerily empty buildings for over an hour.

Not helping her search is the monsters that keep popping up after her every time she steps outside. They’re  _ everywhere _ , always the creepy shadows clawing at her. Luckily, her new keyblade weapon is good at cutting them apart, but she’s getting tired. She was never one for Riku and Sora’s sword fighting games. She liked running and swimming races; using the keyblade uses all different muscles and they’re  _ all  _ sore now.

She sighs as she thumps the door between districts one and two shut again. “Maybe I can just take a nap on that couch in Cid’s.” Kairi pushes off the door, half-stumbling over her feet, and heads for the shop. She’s almost down the stairs when more of the monsters appear. “What? You weren’t here before!”

Cutting a couple of them down, Kairi sprints for Cid’s. He must be able to help. The sailors never turned down a good chance to arm wrestle and he’s got champion arms. What’s so different about fighting a bunch of monsters?

Panting, Kairi grabs the shop door and wrenches it open. The monsters are right at her heels and she stumbles inside. “C-Cid!”   
  
“Duck!” Cid’s got something dangerous looking in his hands and Kairi does as ordered. She drops to the floor, arm not holding the keyblade over her head, and something that sizzles goes shooting out the door. When she looks back, all she sees is smoke.

Cid pushes the door shut, locks it, and then offers her a hand back up. “Good girl. You wouldn’t look too good with your hair burned off.”

Kairi huffs at him and drops into a seat on the couch. “I don’t understand anything that’s going on. They weren’t out here before.”

“Something must be drawing them here. We’ve kept them back to the second and third districts so far, but they must have found a reason to try again…” He eyes her and she tightens her grip on the keyblade. “Who knows,” Cid says after a beat and ducks behind the counter. “Stay here and they won’t be bothering you.”

But she’s not the only one here. “What about the others? In the square?”

“Ah, they’re alright. Everybody knows to hole up and wait it out when there’s trouble going on. People with good instincts are the ones that survive here.” Cid straightens and tosses her a bottle glowing slightly green. “Potion. Drink up.”

Kairi twists it in her hand. The liquid is definitely glowing a little, but the tingle on her fingers seems almost friendly. She takes a sip and some of the ache fades away. A much bigger gulp makes her feel a lot better. She drains the bottle and then watches it poof from her grip. “...Okay.”

Cid chuckles. “Yeah? I figured someone with a magic sword wouldn’t be so surprised by a potion. Then again, maybe I’m just used to everything weird around here.”

“Today has been really weird. I keep thinking I might wake up.” Kairi sighs and puts the keyblade on her back again. “What even are those monsters? They’re like living shadows.”

“Well, you’re not entirely wrong.” He scratches the back of his head. “I’m not really the guy to go over the details with you, but-.”

Something pounds on the door and they both turn, hands going to their weapons. Cid lifts a hand, cautioning her to stay where she is and approaches the door. He waits, one hand wrapped around the thing that sparks, and squints through the glass. Whatever it is pounds again and Cid yanks the lock up.

A man stumbles in, slamming the door shut. Cid relocks it and puts the weapon away. “We’re fine, Kairi. This is one of my friends, though maybe I should call him an annoyance.”

The man scowls at him and then turns to do the same to her. Kairi frowns back at him. “What?”

“You’re what they’re after.” The man straightens, a whole  _ sword _ in his hands, and Kairi jumps to her feet.

“That’s rude! You don’t know that!”

“I know that thing on your back. We heard enough about it to know you’re exciting the heartless and making them come here where it’s supposed to be safe.” He levels it at her, point right at her chest. “Stand down, kid.”

Kairi pulls the keyblade. “Stop calling me that! I’m not some little kid! You don’t even look that old unless you count the wrinkles.”

The man frowns harder. “Fine. Hard way it is.” He lifts the sword and then freezes.

Cid is casually leaning against his back, sparking weapon pointed at the man’s chest. “Calm down there, Leonheart. She’s just a girl and she’s not trying to cause extra trouble. Let’s use our words instead of swinging that damn sword inside my shop.”

Kairi glares at him, pointing her keyblade right back. “I’ll fight him outside.”

“Not that he doesn’t deserve it, Kairi, but I think he’s just a bit confused and worked up.” Cid taps the end of his weapon to the man’s chest. “Down.”

“Since when are you this protective,” the man mutters and lowers the sword. Kairi waits for the point of it to touch the ground and then lowers hers. “Fine, we’ll talk, but you need to put that thing away.” He points at the keyblade.

Kairi looks at it and then back at him. “Sure, let me just put it in my pocket. Are you dumb?”

He sighs as Cid cackles and moves back to the counter. “It’s a magic weapon. You don’t have to carry it.”

She glares at him and then down at the keyblade.  _ Will you go away and come back? _ she asks it silently. The blade hums a little in her grip and then vanishes in a flash of flower petals. Kairi squeezes her hand shut and it still feels warm. “There, done.”

“Thank you.” He leans against the counter. “I’m Leon. Nice to meet you.”

“Oh yeah, I’m thrilled.” Kairi puts her hands on her hips. “I’m waiting.”

Leon looks at her, confused. “For what? I’m going to expla-.”

“Most people  _ apologize _ after wrongly pointing a weapon at someone.” Kairi arches an eyebrow. Leon shoots Cid a look; the other man just smirks at him.

Leon sighs. “I’m sorry for pointing a sword at you,” he says robotically. “I have a lot to explain, can we move on?”

Kairi shrugs. “I don’t forgive you, but continue.” She sits on the couch and folds her hands in her lap. “Explain it all.”

He slumps against the counter, one eye on the door. “Those monsters are called the Heartless. They literally rip the heart from people’s bodies. They’re all looking for something, anything that reminds them of humanity. And what’s the most human? Hearts. Once you’ve had your heart ripped out, you turn into a Heartless too.”

_ Heartless? Ripped out? _ Kairi squeezes her fingers in her skirt so neither of them see her hands shaking. “What if...what if they don’t get your heart but they still hurt you?”

Leon shrugs. “As long as you get away and heal up, you’ll be fine.”

She exhales.  _ So Sora’s still out there somewhere. _ Kairi nods. “Okay, now explain the keyblade.”

Cid offers Leon a potion and picks up the conversation as he drinks it. “We only know bits and pieces, kid. It’s a magic weapon and the Heartless fear it and hunt those with them. It kills them, I’m sure you’ve noticed while swinging it around. Where it comes from or what else it can do...we don’t know.”

“That’s not very helpful.”

“We know it’s powerful and old. There used to be masters of the keyblade. But everything’s gotten f-messed up. Hopefully, more help’s on the way.” Leon glances at the door. “I’ve got Yuffie and Aerith looking around because we thought we saw a couple people from that one king.”

Kairi makes a face. “A king? What kind of messed up fairy tale is this?”

Leon scowls harder at her. “A fairy tale has a happy ending. We don’t.”

She’ll  _ make _ a happy ending if she has to. Kairi looks between the two of them. “Alright, okay. So, who are they?”

* * *

Help arrives with a bang and a crushing blow to Kairi’s back.

Leon had shown her back outside, but despite the keyblade being gone, the Heartless had come after them. Leon had told her to head for the inn as he cleared them out. Kairi did as asked and somehow found herself herded from the inn to the third district, fighting Heartless all the while.

In the little square, she’d finally had a moment to catch her breath and then…

_ Bang! _

“What?” Kairi looks up, but it’s too late. Something hard and heavy strikes her right in the back and she slams into the ground.

Kairi thinks she might have a concussion. This is not helped when two voices shout directly in her ears. “The key!”

She’s going to key whoever it is in the hea-.

The ground rumbles beneath her and she looks up in alarm. Walls, pillars shoot up from the ground, blocking all the exits from the square. Kairi pushes herself up, rolling someone off her. She grips the keyblade tight as more Heartless erupt from the ground. “I’m so sick of you guys!”

Kairi charges forward slamming a Shadow into one of the walls. It poofs, a little sparkling heart flying away, and she dodges a Soldier’s swipe at her ankles. She’s so tired that the next one that comes at her manages to claw her arm. She smacks it and covers the scratches with her hand.  _ This is the worst adventure. _

“Cure!” Someone’s voice croaks and green light falls around her. Kairi looks up, but the bright light is already fading; the blood on her arm and hand is gone and some of her energy is back. She can see someone else charging through the Heartless, slamming at least three of them together into the wall.

Something brushes her arm and she jumps. “Now, calm down!” The croak comes again. “I’m just making sure it worked.”

There is a giant duck standing next to her, wearing clothes, and holding a club. This is officially the weirdest dream Kairi’s ever had and she’s definitely dreamt about eating a beach made of sugar while the fish sang songs before. She gapes at the duck who brushes her arm again.

“Good,” they quack, words not meant to come from a duck’s throat. “Be careful. I can’t do that over and over again!” The duck turns and lifts the club. The head of it looks like it’s wearing a wizard’s hat and it begins to glow as the duck says some other word she can’t make out.

Fire shoots out and fries two Shadows. Kairi exhales. “Okay, you’re helping.” She steps forward and smacks the last of the Soldiers into nothing. “I don’t know what’s going on, but okay!”

No other Heartless appear and she slumps a little. Even with that magic spell, she really, really needs to rest. Kairi takes another step forward, about to start smacking at the new walls, when something clatters above her. She looks up and can see large pieces falling right toward her. Someone grabs her arm and yanks her back out of the way. “Watch out!”

The pieces land on the ground in a pile, but the noise has barely stopped when they all bounce back into the air. They spin and pull together until a giant suit of armor is floating in front of them. Kairi gapes at the pieces floating in sync. Shadow monsters are one thing, but what is this?

“Careful, Donald!” The person holding her calls to the duck; the duck ignores them, smacking with some real violence at one of the shoes. “Are you alright?”

She looks up and sees the strangest person she’s ever met. It’s like someone took a very gangly dog and stretched it even more. Kairi blinks a couple times and then nods. “Yeah, I’m okay.”

“Good!” They smile at her. “Ah, Donald!” 

Kairi steps out of the way as they charge to block one of the gauntlets swinging at the duck. She tightens her grip on the keyblade. “Okay. Questions later, smack this thing now.” She waits for the next boot to hit the ground, keyblade ready to smack it to pieces.

* * *

By the time the chest piece explodes into a bunch of orbs, Kairi is ready for the mother of all naps. She sighs and vanishes the keyblade so she can rub at her shoulders with both hands. “I think that’s enough,” she calls to the air.

The universe has quite the sense of humor because the pillars slide back into the ground, opening the ways out of the square. Waiting by the stairs is a whole group of people. Leon is in front, a small dark-haired woman beside him. She bounces forward, something large and spiked in her hand. “Did we miss all the fun?”

“It’s not fun, Yuffie,” Leon grumbles. “What happened?”

Kairi holds her hands up. “Heartless, lots of Heartless. And some big weird suit of armor.”

“Fighting the big bad ones already?” Cid crosses over to her, potion in hand. He sets it on her head. “Maybe you’re not some kiddo.”

“I already told you my name,  _ sir. _ ” Kairi sticks her tongue out at him and takes the potion gratefully. “It wasn’t so bad. I had help.” She motions to the two overlarge animals who are whispering to each other.

The duck, Donald straightens up at the attention. “Of course we helped. You’re the key!”

Kairi puts her hands on her hips. “What does that mean?”

“It means we were looking for you. We’re supposed to stick around and help you out.” The dog smiles at her and despite his weird features, it’s kind. She smiles back a little.

“Everyone’s been looking for the wielder of the keyblade. They’re supposed to bring peace...when they’re not winding up the Heartless.” Leon leans against the wall, arms crossed over his chest.

Cid shrugs. “Probably just terrified knowing their doom is coming.”

Kairi laughs a little. “That’s me, Kairi Doombringer.”

“You should come with us then!” The dog holds out a hand. “We can go bring peace to all kinds of worlds. We don’t want more stars going out.”

“Worlds?” Kairi wraps her arms around herself.  _ ‘Kairi’s world is out there somewhere, right?’ _ “I don’t know…”

Cid pats her shoulder. “Come on, weren’t you looking for those two friends of yours?”

“We’ve been all over town and there’s no sign of anybody else new.” The woman Kairi doesn’t recognize with long brown hair looks sorry. She folds her hands together. “I don’t think they’re here.”

The bottom of Kairi’s stomach drops. She looks down. “Could they be on another world?”

“Probably! We can go to all kinds on the gummi ship and help you look. We’re looking for someone too.” The dog bends down a little. “Better for us to look together, right?”

“Goofy…” The duck taps a foot on the ground and then sighs. “We do need your help.”

Kairi squeezes her eyes shut. She’s so tired and this is all so strange and awful and she just wants to be  _ home. _ Not some place she doesn’t know, doesn’t remember, but home where the sun’s warm and they’re all watching the sunset together, laughing about things that don’t matter but make them happy anyway.

“Kairi, go with them. Especially if you want to find your friends. You can always come back and check to see if they’re here.” Leon sounds gruff and when she looks up, he’s rubbing his nose and staring away.

She swallows the lump in her throat. “Yeah, okay. I’ll do anything to find them.”

Cid pats the top of her head. “Not without rest first. You haven’t stopped moving since you got here.”

Kairi makes a face, but unfolds her arms. “That would be...nice. I hope your food isn’t weird.”

“He’s better than Aerith,” Yuffie says cheerfully. Aerith sighs.

“Am I that bad?”

Leon looks at her with the most emotion Kairi’s seen from him yet. “You put milk in-.”

Someone coughs and Kairi looks away from the argument. The duck is offering her a feathered hand. “We didn’t introduce ourselves. I’m Donald Duck.”

“And I’m Goofy!”

Kairi takes Donald’s hand and gives it a shake, turning to Goofy next. “I’m Kairi. It’s nice to meet you!”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I like the manga jokes :^)


	4. Chapter 4

The water is so loud, rushing endlessly. It’s missing the rhythm of the waves, the pulse of a place so small that he can never escape from it.

With a groan, Riku opens his eyes. Blearily, he tries to take in his surroundings. The sound of the water is overwhelming; it surrounds him, flowing and flowing. He pushes himself upright off of cold, damp stone. Something in his chest clenches and he hisses through his teeth, hand hovering over it.

“Where...am I?” Everything around him is blue and grey; it’s all so much water, but it’s flowing upward instead of falling down. Outcroppings of stone or maybe ice float in front of him, suspended on nothing. He’s not on Destiny Islands anymore.

“Sora?” He calls as loud as he can. “Kairi?” He shudders, the cold water misting his arms. “Sora! Kairi!” His voice echoes back from the walls, but there’s no answer.

Riku slumps, rubbing the water off his arms. “Where are you?”

* * *

“There’s no way.”

“You’ve got a giant key for a sword and you want to argue about our fuel?!” Donald slaps the table. “That’s how it works, so you better be ready for it.”

Kairi pokes at her food, frowning at him. “A ship can’t run on  _ happy faces. _ ”

“Our’s does,” Goofy says cheerfully, plate already clear. “It makes the journey better and it’s good for the galaxy!”

“Think I’d rather the pollute the place,” Cid mutters from Kairi’s right. “Smiling my damn way through space? No way.”

Kairi makes a face. “I don’t want to smile all the way to another planet. That’s so…Sora.”

Donald rolls his eyes. “Well, it’s how it works, so you better be ready to make a happy face when we take off! I’m going to get supplies. Goofy, you bring her to the dock when she’s ready!” The duck stomps from the room, muttering under his breath.

“Aye-aye.” Goofy gives the duck a salute and then smiles at Kairi again. “It’ll be fine, Kairi. We’ll go someplace close so you get a feel for how the gummi ship goes. We have to be careful; things have been more dangerous lately.”

“The paths between the worlds are full of darkness,” Aerith says with a shake of her head. “So many people come here now, their worlds gone, their hearts hurting.” She presses a hand to her chest. “I hope we can do some good soon, before this place falls too.”

Kairi frowns. “We’ll do  _ something. _ I have to find Sora and Riku, and if the keyblade can help people then, of course I’ll do that too! Everyone on Destiny Islands helped me, so I’ll carry it forward.”

Aerith smiles at her. “You have a very strong heart, Kairi.”

“Bah, hearts, who cares? The true strength is batting those Heartless around with that blade!” Cid leans back, toothpick between his teeth. “Smack ‘em into pudding, kid.”

Kairi elbows him, but she smiles a little. “I can do both.”

After a good dinner, some quiet just to herself, several hours of uninterrupted sleep, and now a big breakfast, Kairi feels like she can handle another day of this. What all this is, she’s still sorting out, but she can handle it. She stretches her arms over her head and then drops a hand to her pocket. She can feel to bumps of the shells and sighs.

She found them last night as she was lying down, the shell pieces that she spent so long gathering. She hadn’t had time to take them out once she got home that last night. Somehow despite all the fighting and the world falling apart and being sent to Traverse Town, the shells are all still in one piece. Kairi had held them to her chest and cried with relief and grief until she fell asleep.

This morning she tucked them away again. She’ll have to work on those good luck charms sometime soon. The moment she sees Sora and Riku again, she’s giving them each one so that they’ll be okay.  _ Maybe if I’d gotten them done sooner… _

Kairi shakes the thought away. “Goofy, is it true you guys work for a king?”

“Yep! I’m the captain of his guard and Donald’s his chief wizard. We’ve got a lot of responsibilities.”

“But, why come out here then? Don’t you need to protect your home castle?” It sounds like a story, one of the ones she read as a kid. 

Goofy nods and then shakes his head. “There are others at home. Donald and me, the king asked us to find the key and help stop the stars going out. That’s really important.”

Kairi frowns and puts her elbows on the table. “You said that last night. What’s it mean when a star goes out?”

“A world is falling,” Goofy says somberly. “We don’t want anymore of them to disappear.”

Is that what happened to the Islands? Did their star disappear from the night sky? Kairi closes her eyes and sighs. “Yeah, that’s important. Have you ever met somebody with a keyblade before?”

Goofy’s voice is a bit softer. “Yeah, a while ago. We don’t know what happened to them. I think that’s part of why the King went charging off. This might be a way to find them.”

Kairi looks at him in surprise.  _ If there are others! _ “I hope so!” So many people to find and here she is moping. Kairi stands up. “Let’s go find Donald and get going.”

“Aye-aye, Kairi!” Goofy snaps her a salute and Kairi laughs.

* * *

Space is not at all what Kairi expected. She presses her hands to the window and stares out at a million stars. It’s beautiful and huge and honestly, a bit terrifying. It doesn’t scare her like the pitch black depths of the ocean, but it’s so enormous that it’s humbling.

Donald and Goofy are getting settled into chairs, but she can’t tear her eyes away from the stars. It’s true about the other worlds. They’re going to another one just like she did when she came to Destiny Islands. Her heart thumps.

_ “How far can a raft take us?” _

_ “Who knows?” _

Kairi takes hold of her pendant and gives it a squeeze. They could have seen it together, maybe. “I’m coming, you two.”

“Take your seat! Take your seat!”

Something small and brown jumps between her and the window and Kairi shrieks. “What?!” The keyblade is in her hand in a moment, warm and bright, and whatever it is yelps and scurries away from her.

Goofy touches her shoulder. “It’s alright, Kairi. That’s just Chip. He and Dale are in charge of keeping this gummi ship working!”

Her heart is pounding now and Kairi lowers her keyblade. “They...what are they?”

“That’s a bit rude, ain’t it, Chipper?” Another little brown creature scrambles onto the shelf on the window. “We’re Chip and Dale, gummi ship engineers!”

Kairi bends her knees to get on eye level with them. The other has reappeared, joining the one with the bright red nose. “That’s right! Don’t be breaking everything!”

She looks between them, two little talking chipmunks. Donald and Goofy’s world must really be something. Kairi offers them her hand. “Hello. I’m Kairi. I promise not to break anything as long as you don’t jump out at me!”

“We won’t,” they chirp, shaking her fingers, and she smiles.

“There we go! You’re even helping us fuel up.” The one with the red nose, Dale she thinks, jumps and points at her face. “Good job!”

Kairi rolls her eyes. “That doesn’t sound  _ real _ , you know.” She straightens back up and looks at the rest of the cockpit. It’s a bit small, but the chairs look comfortable. “I think you’re playing a joke on me.”

Donald shakes his head from the pilot’s chair. “No joke! Disney Castle is all about happiness!”

Which is why the court magician is a grump, she’s guessing. Kairi shrugs. “Alright. I guess I’ll see.” She takes the third seat, leaning over again to look at the stars. “What do worlds look like?” She can’t really see Traverse Town from here. It must be right behind them, whatever it is.

“They’re round,” Donald says shortly. “Buckle up.”

Gee, what a poet. Kairi does as asked and taps her fingers on her leg. A whole new world coming right up and she’s scared. She’s never done anything like this. She’s never been a fighter, not like Riku and Sora. She calls the keyblade back to her hand and rests it over her lap. “Why me?” she asks it quietly. 

It grows a bit warmer over her lap, but says nothing. She brushes her fingers over it, the curled metal petals and vines. It  _ feels _ like it likes her, if she can believe something so strange. If there are magic swords, it’d be nice if they spoke and told her what she’s doing. But, the keyblade stays silent under her fingers. At least it’s not cold.

Her heart thumps in her chest and she presses her fingers to it as the ship rumbles to life. She’s not a fighter, but she’s never been the princess to be rescued either. Kairi looks up at all the stars, a million tiny worlds waiting to be discovered.

Goofy leans over the arm of his chair. “Ready?”

“Ready.” Kairi nods and then breaks into a smile.

The engines roar and then they blast off into the stars.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Yay, more forward motion! As the tags say, I'm not writing out Disney worlds. We'll see the most important stuff but don't expect a step-by-step walkthrough of Wonderland next!
> 
> Next chapter, we're hopping back to Ven!


	5. Chapter 5

The light never changes here, always glowing softly lilac from the floor below them. It’s both eerie and comforting all at once. The temperature is the same, strangely temperate with chill gusts that occasionally blow past them. It reminds him a little of the Lanes Between...among other things.

Ventus looks down at his lap. Sora’s head is on his knee, arms wrapped around himself, and his hair is falling in his face. They talked, Ven had told him about the different places he’d seen until the boy was yawning. They didn’t have anywhere to be and the day had been a bad one. Sleep is hopefully a pleasant escape. He wasn’t really expecting Sora to curl up next to him, but in this lonely, empty place, Ven can’t blame him for wanting the reassurance.

It’s strange to finally know the boy who saved his life twice. It’s very strange to see his face in more than strange dream reflections. Ven shoves a hand through his hair, tugging at it, and then looks down again.

Sora’s got a kind face, a soft one. He’s got the round cheeks and freckles that Aqua and Terra would always tease  _ him _ about. Sora’s darker than him, an island kid through and through, with eyes like the blue of the ocean right before it goes dark.

Sora also looks like Vanitas.

With a harsh exhale, Ven leans back on both hands, careful not to knock Sora off. Of course Sora looks like Vanitas; Sora’s the one who stabilized them. Still, it’s...weird. It’s weird! Seeing Sora’s face, seeing  _ Vanitas’s _ face is weird! It’s been ten years, apparently, and things are damn weird. He’s not even going to consider the part where Vanitas looked like Sora does now ten years ago, because that’s a bit too much for him. Heart stuff, it’s weird. Master Eraqus could have just summed things up like that.

The thought hurts a bit and Ven stares up at the endless black above them. Master Eraqus, Aqua, Terra...things must have gone very wrong if it’s been this long and he’s still with Sora. If they knew, if their Master had been able to find his heart...Sora would know them. But Sora doesn’t know  _ anything _ about keyblades or hearts or light and darkness. He’s a kid, not an apprentice.

But his home had been safe. He’s never seen monsters or the Unversed before today. So, things can’t have been all bad. “Knew Vanitas was gone,” he mutters to no one. Still...what happened to his family? What happened to his body? Ten years is a very long time.

Ven lifts a hand and wraps his fingers around the mark of his apprenticeship. His memory, his mind had still been hazy the day he had gotten it, but he remembers the pride that filled him. He belonged.

He looks down at Sora again. He reaches out, and with careful fingers, pulls back some of his hair to better see his face. He’s relaxed with sleep, exhaustion really, mouth slightly open. He looks friendly even in sleep, someone that Ven would approach happily to introduce himself, to find out more about him. And his heart knows that Sora would return that. That Sora would shake his hand in excitement and drag him to all his favorite spots on the islands and even enjoy a spar, wooden swords clacking almost as loud as his laughter.

It’s so  _ different _ from the face that’s haunted him for years now. Sora’s lived a childhood of happiness and fun. Vanitas...Vanitas was a creature of darkness, trained by Xehanort to beat him and make a weapon. Why would his face ever look kind? Thinner cheeks, no freckles, teeth too sharp, and eyes bright gold make even a face like Sora’s look so animal. Vanitas’s only smile had been a mocking one.

“Bastard,” Ven mutters, fingers stroking slowly through Sora’s hair. The only two times he’d ever felt anything but hatred for Vanitas had been in those brief seconds before they both disappeared. The first, had been in that moment where Vanitas had pressed their hearts together, pushing himself into Ven’s heart. It had felt so painfully  _ right _ that he’d wanted to cry. Then, Vanitas had tried to take him and the hatred had surged to new levels. Vanitas would never get what he wanted. Xehanort would never get his weapon.

The second, and last, time had been after the attempted x-blade had shattered. For a moment, before all was light, he saw Vanitas, desperately reaching up, the manic light in his eyes fading. Ven had pitied him, and then they were both no more.

Well, Vanitas was. He’s been here with Sora, a boy so kind and giving that Ven’s pretty sure that if Vanitas had shown up on the islands, Sora would have invited him along for the fun. He sighs and his smile is fond as he looks at Sora. “You need people to look out for you, like Terra does. You’ll get yourself into trouble.”

Sora exhales, but doesn’t move, still caught in the depths of sleep.

Ven shakes his head a little. “Guess that’s what I’m here for. I’ll keep you safe, Sora.” As much as he can, here in another heart.

* * *

“If she hadn’t been such a  _ jerk _ , this never would have happened!” Still raging, Kairi throws her keyblade at the side of the gummi ship. It sticks in place with a rather concerning glorp, but she just crosses her arms and mutters swears she’s not allowed to say in the house under her breath.

Goofy rubs the back of his neck. “That Cheshire Cat seemed pretty sure that Alice was gone. You think he’s right?”

Donald squawks as his partner looks at him. “I don’t know! Why would we trust a cat?!”

“Now don’t be speciesist, Donald.”

Kairi has to smile as Donald starts shouting unintelligibly. “I don’t know why the cat would lie. We killed that big Heartless and then locked whatever that light was. He was trying to help us...weirdly.” She squeezes her arms. “The Queen is just lucky she had all those soldiers or I would have smacked her with the keyblade. She’s a bully!”

Goofy nods and approaches the ship to tug at her keyblade. “It’ll be alright, Kairi. At least we’re already traveling. We’ll look for Alice as we look for our other friends. Could be that the Heartless are gathering them all in the same place.”

“Wouldn’t that be nice…” Kairi sighs and lifts a hand. “I got it.” She summons the keyblade back with a flash of flower petals and bounces its end on her other hand. “When we bring Alice back, I’m still going to give the Queen a bad haircut.”

Donald snickers. “With a fire spell.”

Kairi laughs. “I don’t know that I’ll have that good of control, but maybe! It’s tempting.” But maybe a bit too mean. Screw bullies, she doesn’t want to be one trying to teach others a lesson. Kairi blows a bit of her hair off her face. “Does the gummi ship have a kitchen? I need something to eat after that Heartless tried to cook us.”

“Not a full one, but Donald and I brought some good quick food!” Goofy opens the door and waves her inside. “To your left!”

There’s indeed a ladder down and she climbs it carefully. At the bottom, she finds herself in a small, but cozy looking room. Pipes cover most of the walls, occasionally steaming and hissing, with a few small cabinets carefully bolted on the back wall. Two benches and a table have also been crammed into the space, set away from the worst of the hissing pipes. Kairi heads for that, taking a seat out of the way.

She gets to watch Goofy duck pipes on his way to one of the cabinets and manages to not snort at it. She’s sure it would hurt, but so far Goofy has shaken off everything that’s thrown at him. Figuratively and literally. It’s impressive. He opens one of the cabinets and hums. “A growing girl like you needs better than some chips. We shoulda brought fruit with us.”

“It would have spoiled, wouldn’t it?” Kairi leans forward onto the table, chin in her hands. “How long did it take you to fly to Traverse Town?” The trip from Traverse Town to Wonderland had only been a couple hours.

“Oh not too long, about a day. It woulda been fine.” Goofy opens another cabinet and his ears lift. “Here we go! You can’t go wrong with a big sandwich.” He pulls out a loaf of bread and then moves toward a larger cabinet. He opens it, revealing a small fridge instead. 

Kairi’s mouth pops open. “Sneaky!”

Goofy laughs. “I woulda told ya!”

She smiles at him as he gets to work, but it’s not long before her thoughts start to drift. They went to a whole other world, fought a bunch of Heartless, and instead of finding anybody, they lost someone. Great. It better not be the whole pattern of this trip. Kairi sighs and pulls out the little bag she’d found for her shell pieces. She pulls them out, lining them up on the table, and then gets out the heavy needle and cord she needs to string them together. She’s using her best knots.  _ Nothing _ is going to break these once she’s finished.

There’s a clatter as Donald comes in, because the duck doesn’t do anything quietly, but it fits the space rather than disrupting it. Seeing Goofy humming as he makes sandwiches, Donald takes a seat across from Kairi and watches her carefully thread one shell with cord. She knots it, pulling it tight and secure as she wishes she knew the magic to draw her friends back to her.

“What’s that?”

Kairi looks up, unsurprised at the question. Donald motions to the shells in front of her. She pushes them into the shape of a star. “It’s going to be a good luck charm. Sailors make them from these, thalassa shells, to ensure safe voyages. I was...I was supposed to finish before we set sail, but then things happened.”

She takes a breath and picks up the piece and needle again. “But, we’ll find everyone and I’ll have them done and I’m going to throw one in each of their faces!” Kairi huffs.

Donald chuckles and pats the table with his wing. “You sound like a friend of my nephew’s. Good girl, if a bit too smart with adults.”

Kairi sticks her tongue out at him. “Good. She’s probably great.” She starts on the next hole, drilling carefully with her needle. Donald settles back in a rustle of feathers, looking toward Goofy and the food. It’s almost sort of peaceful and she loses herself in the work for a bit.

A plate is set in front of her with a clank, the sandwich on it has at least three layers. Kairi feels at least three layers hungry, so it’s perfect. She puts her shells back in their bag and then digs in. Goofy and Donald do the same across from her. Kairi almost chokes when Goofy eats half his sandwich in one bite. Smiling at her, he does the same with the other half.

She bursts into choked laughter, smacking herself in the chest before she actually dies. It works, thankfully, and she almost kicks at Goofy before she remembers he’s not Sora or Riku. “Did you even taste it?”

Goofy licks a finger. “Yep.”

Donald shakes his head. “Big palooka,” he grumbles. “He has no respect for food.”

“But he made it!” Kairi shakes the sandwich in her hands. “Don’t you want to savor it?”

“It was good. I tasted it just fine.” Goofy wipes at his mouth and Donald rolls his eyes.

Kairi sighs. “ _ Boys _ .” 

It’s not the same, but it’s not a bad different either. She takes another bite of the sandwich and feels hope in her pocket and her chest.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Like, I said, skipping Disney worlds that aren't really important. But I can and will write the gummi ship into a home in space


	6. Chapter 6

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Gonna be honest, this is not at all edited, but I'm just looking for some forward momentum here. Forgive me any glaring typos or grammar errors!

Kairi knows almost immediately how much Riku and Sora would love the Coliseum. The bright sun, the promise of victory in contests… They’d be nudging each other and declaring bets as they scribbled their names down on the list of contenders. They’d be racing for warm-ups and maybe smacking barrels back and forth, the barrels breaking on the ground in front of each other, never close enough to be a concern.

She sits on the steps as Donald and Goofy discuss what to do about all the Heartless listed in the games and wishes her friends were here to enjoy all of this. The whole point of the raft was to go together.

But, she had asked Sora to go without Riku, hadn’t she? Kairi puts her elbows on her knees, staring up at the blue sky.  _ Was I that jealous? Or did I know? _ She couldn’t have known about all this stuff, light and darkness, right? With her memories lost, she wouldn’t have known… But it feels like she should have, might have just a little bit. Something had felt off and she wanted to ditch him.

_ Is it my fault? _

Kairi hugs her arms tight to her chest under the bright sun. She feels cold, a pit in her stomach. She just wants them both here.

Someone moves past her, fabric brushing at her arm, and she jumps. A man is moving toward the door and she’s never seen a stupider outfit in her life. “Who are you?” Kairi has to know a person that dresses in a tattered red cape and a big metal shoulder cover. He looks like he’s  _ trying _ to be dramatic.

He looks down at her and his eyes are a strangely vivid blue, but they look distant. “Run along, kid. I’ve got a meeting.”

“Rude.” Kairi sticks her tongue out at him. “Sorry, I didn’t realize people dressed like weirdo vampires had meetings.”

His face twitches and for a second she thinks he might smile. But then he turns away, cape flaring and moves inside the heavy doors.

“Making friends?” Donald asks, foot tapping. “That one looks like trouble.”

“He called me  _ kid _ so he’s already being a jerk. Why are all adults like this?” She turns to look at the two of them. Goofy shrugs, but Donald glares at her.

“We’re adults!”

“Are you sure?”

Donald squawks at her and she grins. “I know you are, Donald. You have nephews.”

The duck huffs at her. “And they’re twice as much trouble as you. We need to focus. There’s no sign of the king or your friends, right?”

“Not that I’ve seen.” Kairi wraps a hand around her arm. “But the Heartless…”

“Are a problem,” Goofy finishes. “Let’s enter this here tournament and get those cleaned up for these guys. Then we can move on.”

Kairi summons the keyblade and swings it at her side a couple times. “Yeah, people are doing this for fun. We can’t have anybody actually getting hurt. Let’s play some rough games.”

Donald grumbles, but doesn’t stop them as they climb back up the steps and re-enter the coliseum. The goat man, “satyr” he grumbled earlier, is still there with his list and he looks up as Kairi stops in front of him. “Back again, kid? You’re just in time. Good thing you sent that guy with your entry tickets.”

She frowns and looks back at Donald and Goofy. They both shake their heads, but they can’t look a gift horse in the mouth. Kairi nods to him. “Yep. First round is starting?”

“Yeah! Get on in there and get warmed up. I need a good show today!” He pushes at her legs and she quickly hops away. Something about him seems  _ too _ touchy and she’s not having it. 

Kairi heads into the coliseum proper and can’t help how her mouth drops open. The stands climb up at least twenty feet and they’re half-full of people. Nobody’s cheering yet without a match going, but they’re all waving flags and eating and the noise is kind of incredible. It’s going to be deafening when the fights actually start.

She swallows, trying to fight her suddenly dry mouth. Fighting monsters to save people? That’s one thing. Doing it in front of a crowd that will tell her loudly when she’s messed up? She’d rather be surfing. She knows she’s pretty good at that; she’s got a handful of trophies at home! Kairi tightens her hands on her keyblade and tells herself to ignore it, block it out.

Warm hands start rubbing at one of her shoulders. She looks over and Goofy smiles at her. “You’re supposed to relax before a round in the ring, not tense up. We gotta work this tension out!”

She smiles a little. “I’m...kind of nervous. I’ve never fought in front of people like this. It feels weird.”

“It is a bit weird, but they don’t know those Heartless fellas are such bad news. It’s just for fun.”

“I wonder who they usually fight…” Kairi scans the stands as Goofy works on her other shoulder; it leaves her warm and a bit more prepared to move. Everyone in the crowd is dressed in bright colors with no sleeves, perfect for how warm it is. Some of the kids even have dolls that they wave around and smack into each other in their own mini-fights. The only danger there is a fallen toy, easily rectified. Near the far right corner, she spots someone leaning against the wall, hiding in the shadows. They move and she just see that spiky blond hair. She squints. Is he waiting for a match or watching?

Not much of a meeting either way.

A bell dings and a voice calls them to the field for the first match. Kairi takes a few potions Donald shoves at her and then follows an ambling Goofy onto the cleared stone. It’s going to hurt if she doesn’t roll right on it; she makes a note to try and not get knocked down period. They take their places and wait for their opponents. It doesn’t take long for several shapes to pull themselves from the shadows and scurry forward. Unlike the other Heartless, these wait on the other side of the square, twitching in place.

Kairi settles into her ready stance, shoulders and keyblade warm. Another bell rings out and she lunges forward, keyblade already swinging.

* * *

“Holy  _ geez _ ,” Kairi says gustily as she falls into a seat on a sideline bench. She’s coated in sweat and wipes her face with a towel. “I wish we had the mana to spare to have Donald spray us with a blizzard.”

Donald quacks an agreeing noise that definitely doesn’t qualify as words. Goofy is lying spread eagle on his back on the ground, shield under his head like a pillow. They’re up for the final round next, but Phil said they get a short break before facing the final. “Nobody wants to see exhausted contenders who can barely swing at each other!”

Kairi wipes her arms down and tosses the towel aside to dry. “You know, home is even hotter than this. Yet, it feels different. Is it because it’s...you know?”

Goofy shrugs. “Maybe so! Every place is different.”

“Mmm,” Kairi hums. “It would be nice if these games weren’t right at mid-day. Don’t they know that’s when it’s hottest out? We always took a break until it was later in the afternoon.” She summons the keyblade and holds it over her head. It has way too many gaps to shade her from the sun and she sighs. “Donald, when do I get to learn blizzard?”

“When you’re confident with fire.”

“Shouldn’t you want me to be able to put out my fires?”

The duck shoots a glare at her and Kairi decides not to ignite his temper. There, she’s a master of fire already. Her keyblade vanishes, leaving the scent of flowers, and she sighs. “Is there a wind spell?”

Donald sighs and starts to answer, but the bell rings above them. “The final round is about to begin! Finalists to the field!”

Kairi stands and stretches, shaking her arms out. Someone else, someone  _ not _ a creepy shadow monster, climbs up the other side. A breeze catches their cape and snaps it out and she can see the rips in it. “It’s the guy from before. He’s our opponent?” Maybe his meeting was about joining the games. Huh.

With a mental shrug, Kairi follows Donald and Goofy to their starting spot. 

The keyblade is warm in her hands, but her confidence drops a bit when she sees him pull out his sword. There is no reason for a person to have a sword as thick as their body. The bandages wrapped around it are just extra, like his clothes. Maybe if she sets those on fire, he’ll have to drop it?

“Good thing he’s not a Heartless,” Donald says. “This can just be for fun.”

Kairi smiles at him. “Hey, you’re right! We don’t have to worry at all.” She lifts her hand to her mouth. “Hey! Good luck!”

The man blinks and then levels his sword at them. Kairi swallows. “Alright, no sportsmanship, I guess.”

The bell rings out and Kairi dodges sideways, wanting to see how fast he is with such a big sword. It’s a good idea since the first thing he does is charge directly at them. He smacks Donald aside with the flat of the idea and the duck squawks in alarm. “That hurt!”

The man is already turning and Goofy charges him from the side, staggering him slightly. Kairi lifts her keyblade and shoots a ball of fire at him, aiming for his armored side. He swings and knocks Goofy back and then charges her again. She dodges out of his way, feeling the energy that ripples off of him. “This is supposed to be friendly,” she gasps at him and then dodges again.

He doesn’t say a thing, hefting his sword and leaping high up. Kairi tips her head up and then throws herself to the side, banging up her hands and knees. His sword drives into the stone, sizzling with something dark. Kairi feels the ripples reach her and shudders. Okay, he’s not playing this as a game.

Frowning, she shoves herself to her feet. She grips the keyblade tight and fires two fire spells after one another at him. They hit and smolder on his cloak and he turns, face almost too empty. Kairi grits her teeth and charges in under the reach of his sword before he can charge her. She smacks him in the stomach and then in the side.

A gloved hand, clinking with gold claws, grabs her shoulder and tosses her aside. She slams into the ground with a gasp, feeling the sting where those claws pierced her skin. She pushes herself up, trying to get her feet under her. A cure spell washes over her, healing the cuts, but he’s over her, sword lifted. Kairi swings the keyblade up to protect her head.

The ground shakes, but there’s no collision with her keyblade. She blinks and sees the bandage-wrapped sword at the man’s side. There’s another shake through the ground and then something dark slams the man to the ground. Kairi scrambles back on her hands and then gets to her feet. A massive dog with three snapping heads growls and Kairi can just see blond hair under one of its paws. “No!”

Someone darts past her, glowing with light. “Get out of here!” A very large, very strong man, stops the dog with his bare hands. “Phil, get the people out!”

“Everybody out!” Phil yells, hopping in place. Somehow, despite the panic of the crowd, everyone streams out through the stand entrances to safety. A hand wraps around Kairi’s arm and tugs her toward the competitors entrance. She stumbles out after them, glancing back as the dog growls. The last thing she sees is teeth.

The sound of the monstrous dog only fades in the waiting area. Kairi paces back and forth, fingers clenched around a potion bottle. Goofy and Donald are discussing something in low voices, but she stares at the dark entrance to the coliseum. She doesn’t even know his name and he was trying to hurt them, but...a monster of that size, crushing him under foot… She squeezes her hands into fists and then strides over to the list of competitors. 

_ Final Round: Kairi, Donald, & Goofy vs. Cloud! _

Cloud, his name is Cloud. He doesn’t look like a Cloud, something soft and dreamy on a sunny day. Maybe a thunderhead, but not a cloud.

Just a bit of blond hair sticking out from under a massive paw and he had  _ lowered his sword rather than hit her. _

Kairi’s hands are shaking, but she shakes them out. “Donald, Goofy, I’m going to help.”

“Whoa, kid, wait, Herc’s got it!” Phil is shouting, but she’s already running back through the door.

The growling is still going and she can hear the snap of teeth, but the dog’s facing away from her. It must have the glowing man on the other side. She can’t see Cloud collapsed on the ground, so maybe…

“Hey!” she shouts. “Over here you stupid mutt!” Kairi lifts the keyblade and shoots lightning from its tip, striking the dog’s hindquarters. It yelps and whirls around. “Yeah, come here, you!” It stomps toward her and she can see the other man easing around the wall that protects the stands. He nods to her and then runs for the door, someone hanging over his shoulder.

He could still be okay in this world of magic spells. Kairi wraps both hands around the keyblade’s handle and fires more lightning at the dog. It spits a goddamn fireball at her and she leaps to the side. Goofy is there, shield up to cover her as Donald fires at the dog. She smiles at them. Okay, they’ve got to do their best, to protect people. It’s why they entered in the first place.

Watching strange waves of darkness ripple over the dog, Kairi feels something inside her flare with light. She runs forward to put a stop to it before it can hurt someone else.


	7. Chapter 7

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello again! Writing fights is hard, my god. I think the duels against human fighters are easier than trying to coordinate attacks on the more bestial Heartless.
> 
> Anyway, hopefully you enjoy this chapter!

Facing off against a hell dog that can spit fire and seems to be calling pillars of darkness from the ground is not how Kairi thought this day would go. Sure, this was a tournament where they entered just to clean up the Heartless that were somehow on the lists, but this seems like a step beyond that.

Kairi dodges the stomping paws and tries to find any place that seems like a good target. The lightning she shot at its hindquarters got its attention, but didn’t seem to do anything. It’s got sharp teeth, three sets, and heavy paws. What’s a weak point? It’s tiny eyes?!

“Fire!” Donald shoots magic right at one of the faces and the head jerks back. Kairi tightens her grip. Okay, faces it is even with the teeth and the  _ fireballs. _ Kairi shoots her own fire spell at it and then dodges away from more strange pillars of darkness. Goofy’s shield slams into another head’s nose and the dog yelps. Maybe if they harry it enough, it’ll just run back wherever it came from.

Diving away from another paw stomp, Kairi doesn’t have much time to think. She swings out to smack a furry ankle, but the monster takes no notice. She runs back toward Goofy who holds his shield in front of his face as the dog snaps close to him. Kairi scowls and leaps forward, bashing the dog in the nose hard.

It yelps and jumps away from them, landing with a thud on the far side of the coliseum. Kairi quickly shakes out her arms and then looks at Donald and Goofy. “What else can we do?”

“Don’t die!” Donald squawks and shoots more lightning at the dog. Goofy shrugs.

“We’re following you, Kairi.”

Shoot, she was the one who charged in here. But, she had to; she had to help, to see if there was a chance that the man was okay. She tightens her grip on the keyblade and exhales. The dog is growling at them, pacing back and forth, and she can see the ripples of darkness over it again.

Something bubbles beneath their feet and all three of them jump back. A pillar of darkness erupts from the ground they were just standing on and more begin to bubble. It feels cold, starkly cold compared to the heat of the day here. Kairi shudders and moves quickly away from them. The dog snaps as she comes within ten feet and she scowls up at it. “No, you don’t! Bad boy!”

All three heads snarl, but Kairi stands her ground. It’s worth it, the dog’s aggression making it lean down to try and snap her in half with its teeth. She jumps as it dives at her, watching its teeth close on empty air. Quickly, she swings the keyblade around, points it right at the closest face, and forces her fury into magic. Lightning crackles from the keyblade, striking the two closest heads.

It howls and swings its heads from side to side, probably blind from the flash. Kairi can only dodge from its steps, but she hears Donald shouting from somewhere else on the field. Hopefully, his shoots land true. For added measure, she smacks at the dog’s legs as they pass her, trying to make the cost of the fight too much for the hound to want to continue.

Kairi gets to a clear area, back against the wall of the stands and looks up. Donald is also attacking from a distance, fire and lightning each taking their turn as he aims for their faces. She’s noticed that he can be a bit vicious against the Heartless, but she’s thankful right now. Goofy is nowhere to be seen and she looks around more quickly. 

The dog spins, sending up grit in every direction, and she coughs, half-blind. There’s a flash, something catching the sunlight and then she sees Goofy’s shield slam into the center head with a crunch. The dog howls and backs up, but it trips over its paws. It collapses in a heap and whines instead of fighting back to its feet.

Flicking the grit from her face, Kairi eases forward. The dog stays on the ground, breathing heavily, but clearly worn out. She approaches the heads, staying a careful distance from those teeth. Half-lidded eyes stare at her, but the fierce creature that they were fighting is done. She sighs and puts her hands on her hips, keyblade hanging from one.   
  
“Bad dog.”

It whines and she shakes her head. “Go home, wherever that is.” Hopefully, Phil knows where it belongs. Kairi turns around and jogs toward Donald and Goofy. They’re both perfectly alright if tired, so she leads them back inside.

Phil is hopping around in a circle. “I can’t believe this! They’re going to get killed!”

Kairi banishes her keyblade and rolls her eyes. “Wow, your faith is inspiring. We won your cup, you know!”

“Technically, Cerberus interfered before that other guy could-.” Phil whirls around. “You guys!” He hops toward her, but Kairi steps aside. 

“We’re fine. The dog is collapsed out there. Do you know where he belongs?”

The door to the front courtyard opens and Kairi looks up quickly. It’s the glowing man from before, dusting his hands off. “Hey! You guys okay? Cerberus is a menace.”

Kairi approaches him since he’s got an actual friendly face. She holds her hand out. “We’re okay. I’m Kairi.”

He takes it with a smile that reminds her very much of Sora. “Hercules. It’s nice to meet junior heroes like you.”

Donald squawks behind her. “ _ Junior heroes? _ ” Kairi ignores him. She shakes the hand that practically swallows her, but can feel calluses that she’s just beginning to develop on her own hands.

“Nice to meet you, Hercules. Cerberus is the dog?”

“Yep. Guardian of the gates of hell, but Hades has a bad habit of letting him run off whenever he wants to make a mess of things.” Hercules shakes his head. “I’ll send him back toward home since you guys got him stopped.”

Kairi’s glad that Hercules isn’t the type to be taking out a dog just because things got a little bit crazy. She rubs more of the grit and sweat from her face. “That Hades should come have a word with me. That’s not how you treat your pets.”

Hercules laughs and pats her back. It’s hard enough that she staggers forward a couple steps. “Whoops. Sorry about that. Don’t worry, Kairi. I’ll be sure to let him know there’s more than one hero that’s going to keep an eye on him.” He winks at her and she stands a bit straighter with pride. Hercules puts his hands on his hips and looks toward the door into the coliseum. “I’ll go clean up. Phil, make sure the other guy doesn’t try and pick any fights.” He points a thumb towards the courtyard.

Kairi ducks out that door before she can hear the goat’s reply. She blinks at the sunlight, but it’s not hard to see the dark-dressed man sitting on the steps. She climbs down them and then turns to look at him. “You okay?”

Cloud looks up at her and then squints. He looks away, just past her, and she huffs at him. Before she can get too annoyed, he answers, “Yeah.”

“Why did you give tickets for us to Phil? We didn’t even know we needed them.” Kairi dusts off her shorts, already expecting a bit of a wait before the answer. He seems like a guy who doesn’t talk much and picks over his words. Riku got like that sometimes; Sora’s mom said he overthought things sometimes, but sometimes he just needed an extra bit of time to get his thoughts in order.

“Hades asked me too.” Cloud folds his hands in front of his face, elbows on his knees. “I don’t know what he wanted with a kid like you, but you seemed tough. I figured you could handle it.”

Kairi grins. “I could.” She sobers quickly, frowning at him. “If you were doing what Hades wanted, then why did he let his dog stomp you?”

Cloud shifts and he looks stiff, but at least he’s not broken. “I assume because he would have preferred to...remove you from his plans. I don’t kill kids.”

“Well, I would  _ hope _ not. Even people who dress like weirdos should probably stay far from the killing kids, or teens, line.”

He glances at her and she can just see the curve of a smile behind his hands. “Teen, right. You remind me of one of my friends.”

Kairi shrugs. “You remind me of one of mine. You haven’t seen anyone else here, have you?”

“Teens like you? No, I haven’t. You’re searching for them?” Cloud’s eyes are so bright even though they only meet hers for a moment. Kairi nods and he sighs. “I’m searching too, for the way out of the darkness I’ve fallen into.”

Her heart thumps.  _ Darkness wrapping around his legs, his arms, and Riku’s not scared, he’s never scared. Then, he’s gone. _ Kairi swallows. “You’ll find it. Everyone can find a way out if they try.” She folds her hands together and squeezes them tight. 

_ I’ll find them. _

Cloud glances at her again and then pushes himself up onto his feet. “Don’t lose sight of the light, Kairi.” He holds a hand out, his fingers wrapped around something.

With a frown, she holds one out, palm up. “I won’t. I have to find my friends. I don’t have time to get lost too.”

He coughs what could almost be a laugh and then drops something small into her palm. She pulls it closer immediately. It’s a small chip, the kind that can go into a computer. “What’s this?”

“Watch it. You might learn something.” He flicks the ends of his bangs out of his face and then climbs back up the stairs and inside.

“Bye!” she shouts before the door can shut. “You should fix your cape!” She can’t see his response, but she grins anyway. Kairi turns the chip over in her fingers. “I sure hope this works with the gummi ship.” He’s actually pretty kind.

She folds her hands together again and closes her eyes. It’s hard to know what energy, what spirits might be out in other worlds, but she whispers to the wind and the sun that are almost everywhere. “Help him find the light and his friends again.” She can hear the wind brush over the stones and the sun is warm over her skin. Something must touch every world and she hopes it carries wishes along with it.

Turning, she pockets the chip. Things seem settled here which means it’s time to move on. But if that stand that was selling snacks is still open, she’s sure they’ve got time for that. Kairi hops back up the stairs and thinks about how next time, she’ll come back with both her friends at her side.

Maybe they’ll even give Cloud a real fight, just for fun.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> We're taking a break from Kairi next time before she swings back to Traverse Town for a reunion. ;)


	8. Chapter 8

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, long time no see! I really fell behind with this fic (plus got caught up in holiday posting), but I'm back at it again.
> 
> Enjoy this chapter with Sora and look forward to the next one! (Which is already 1800 words and not even to the big moment yet AH)

_ It’s a treehouse, huge and mansion-like even with the holes in the walls as the planks fall apart. It puts their treehouse on the play island to shame; a thing made for children to run up and down and peek out like they’re on a ship having adventures where the sea can’t reach them. This could be a place where people lived, a home. The detritus of life are scattered across the floor, furniture and other things in messy piles. _

_ Sora turns in a small circle as he looks all the way up to the rafters, to the holes in the roof. It’s incredible and he can even hear the calls of wild birds outside. It’s the perfect place for an adventure.  _

_ He looks down and Kairi is there, staring at him in surprise. He smiles at her, but before either of them can speak, the sunlight brightens until it blinds him. _

Sora jerks awake, fumbling for the ground around him. It’s cool to the touch and the dark is disorienting. It takes him several beats of his heart to remember where he is. It doesn’t feel any realer than his memories of yesterday. Sora rubs at his face and sits up. Everything is the same: the glass underneath him, the dark around, and the only sound is the wind.

He sighs and pushes himself up onto his feet. “This all felt like a dream.” But the treehouse must have been the dream this time. Sora makes a face and turns in a circle. There are no bird calls, no cool treehouse here. It doesn’t feel like an adventure; it feels like a, a void. Sora shudders. He can’t start moping now. He moves over the glass until he’s standing by Kairi’s face. Her eyes are closed, like she’s sleeping, but there’s a faint smile on her face. He smiles back, but it doesn’t sit right.

Rubbing at his arms, Sora looks all the way up. The blackness just keeps going, but maybe… He cups his hands around his mouth. “Kairi! Kairi, can you hear me?” His voice floats away, echoing faintly, but there’s no answer. Sora frowns and then takes another breath. “I’m going to tell Riku about how you really wanna do his hair and makeup! And, and how you confessed that you wanted to touch his arms!”

It’s the most embarrassing thing he can think of, but nothing around him changes. With a groan, Sora falls backward to lie on the glass. Weirdly, it doesn’t hurt. He lifts his hands above him to stare at them against the black. The purple light makes his skin look strange, alien. “Man, I wish I could be hanging out with aliens right now.” Sora drops his hands over his head, stretched out beside Kairi’s face on the glass.

_ Aliens...why do aliens make me feel like I’m forgetting something? _

“Space jail!” Sora sits back up so fast, that it makes his neck ache. Rubbing at it, he looks around again. “Ven? Did I dream you up?” He really hopes not. Ven had answers and made this place feel less like some strange kind of lonely prison. “Ven?!”

There’s a laugh and then the light pulls together, some from  _ him _ , to make Ven’s image. Ven covers a yawn and leans back on his hands. “You were really out, so I was taking a break too.”

Sora sighs in relief and scoots a bit closer. “Does it take a lot of energy to do that? Appear from that light?”

“Is that what it looks like? Huh.” Ven shrugs. “It’s not bad. It is more than I’ve done for the last few...years. I’m still getting a feel for it.” Ven’s eyes roam over his face and Sora sticks his tongue out. It makes Ven laugh again. “I’ll always be with you, Sora, so don’t worry about being alone, okay?”

He says it with such warmth that Sora flushes and looks down. It’s like when his mom coos about how proud she is of him. He shifts in place, wrapping his hands around his ankles to try and contain his fidgets. “Yeah, of course. I guess you have no idea how much time is passing, huh?”

Ven shakes his head. “I don’t. And time can be very weird between worlds anyway. If Kairi is traveling around with a keyblade...it’s hard to say how time is passing for her.” He tugs at his jacket one-handed. “And, I haven’t aged at all since I’ve been with you, which is even stranger.”

Sora stares blankly at him and then asks, “What if your body is ten years older now?”

Ven blanches. “By the Light, that would be  _ weird _ . I don’t feel twenty-five.”

“You’d be an adult!” Sora grins at him. “You could buy anything you wanted from the store!”

“What have you been denied buying at the store?” Ven asks, real confusion written over his face.

“Spray paint,” Sora answers. “They don’t let you have it until you’re eighteen because you might be dumb and huff the fumes or something.” Ven is still looking at him in confusion and Sora waves his hands. “I don’t want to make a mess! I just think it would be cool to paint stuff? Like, if we could decorate our practice swords or paint the treehouse or anything! I’m not going to go paint bad words on cheap Mr. Shellor’s place or anything.” He ends in a grumbling mutter.

Ven finally laughs a little. “Okay, okay, clearly your home is different than mine. It’d still be weird to suddenly be twenty-five. I’d be older than Terra and Aqua...if they were still the same age as before.” He sighs and it sounds much sadder than earlier.

Sora looks at him, weirdly struck by the fact that Ven isn’t much older than he is. He seems older than Riku, but not overwhelmingly so. It’s like...Ven has been through stuff that they have no idea about. Turning, Sora wraps his arms around his knees. “What happened to your friends?”

“I don’t know for certain.” Ven looks away from him, at the dark. “Some very bad things happened, Sora, and I don’t know how it all turned out, because of…”

“Whatever you did to end up with me.” Sora stares at him. Ven had said  _ he _ had to do bad things, but sometimes good people do bad things. That doesn’t make them bad people. “Can I hear that story? Not just the fun ones with aliens? I think...I think it’s the type of thing I should know about if all this  _ stuff _ is happening to us now.”

Ven plays with the emblem strung on the straps criss crossing his chest. The top reminds Sora of a heart, which seems appropriate with where it’s hanging. He waits Ven out, even though more questions pile up on his tongue. He wants to  _ know _ before things get worse. He wants to have a guess at just  _ what _ is going on with Kairi and Riku...and that door.

Finally, Ven swallows and nods. “It’s not a good story, so you have to tell me if you need me to stop, Sora. I might need to stop at some parts. It’s been a long time since then out there, but to me it still feels pretty recent.” He folds his hands in his lap, one cupping the other and squeezing tight.

“Okay.”

“Okay,” Ven echoes. “I guess it starts back when you were four and our hearts first touched.”

“I had been broken, my heart literally broken into two pieces: light and dark. My master at that time was a cruel man and was trying to make a dangerous weapon. He needed a heart of pure light and a heart of pure darkness to do it. He was trying to train me, to make me make him the weapon, but it wasn’t working. So he forced it.”

_ Everything was cold and empty. All he could feel was the void in his chest. _

“He took the darkness from my heart and gave it form and a name: Vanitas. He was strong, but what was left of my light was struggling. My heart was beginning to fall apart from the strain. So he took me away, to let me pass, but something happened.”

_ A voice, a light in the dark, reaches out and the void is carefully patched over. The emptiness lingers, but it is contained. His fingertips begin to feel warm again. _

“Your new heart touched mine, I don’t know why, and you patched my heart to keep it from falling apart. You saved my life. My old master took me to a place where I could recover, and where he knew I could be trained to eventually be the light heart he needed.”

_ Aqua, Terra, Master Eraqus, and a home. Ven doesn’t remember anything else, but he doesn’t need to. _

“A few years later, when it was time for my friends to show that they were ready to be masters, my old master returned. Supposedly, he had made up for his actions in the past. But, that was when he started everything. He had a big plan to finally make his weapon. He ordered Vanitas to get me into action.”

_ ‘Better hurry, Ventus.’ A menacing figure waiting in his room, there and gone like a vengeful ghost. His stomach had been in knots the entire time. _

“That’s how I ended up going to all those worlds and having those adventures. There were good parts and I thought everything was turning around. But, then I found out about what had happened to my heart and that I was destined to make the weapon that would destroy all the worlds. I found out that Vanitas came from me and everything...everything got a lot worse.”

_ ‘Put an end to me.’ In a dusty wasteland full of rusted keys, Ven knows that this is a place to die. Better him, better the end, than to be a part of the world falling apart. Better him than his friends. _

“Vanitas managed to provoke me into fighting him. I beat him, but that’s what he wanted. With him beaten, his part of our heart could be returned. We should have been whole and the weapon would be made. It almost happened, but...I didn’t want Vanitas’s piece back. I had my own. That rejection made the weapon imperfect and Vanitas attacked me again within our heart.”

_ It had been like being in space, like being in nothing, but light blazed all around the dark. They had come together over and over, both of them desperate to end this, to be the victor. When everything shattered, when he felt Vanitas reach out and link them together, Ven’s eyes had been full of tears. Despite them, he broke through and turned Vanitas into nothing but light. _

“I fought him again and won again. The weapon was destroyed and the worlds didn’t end. But my heart has very damaged from the fight. It was like it was broken all over again, so it went to the place it knew had helped before.”

_ ‘Can I stay here with you?’ _

_ ‘Yeah!’ _

_ Warm hands wrapped around him and he could see the ocean in bright blue eyes. _

Sora touches the spot over his chest closest to his heart. Ven closed his eyes part way through telling the story and now he sits with them still closed. Sora shifts a little in place and then sighs. “What happened to Vanitas? Did he...disappear?”

“I think so. I think whatever was left of him stayed in my heart.”

So, he could have been carrying around two people the whole time. That’s weird. Sora stretches his arms and legs out and mulls it all over. “Guess that is a pretty sad story...but, it could still have a happy ending. It’s not over yet. You haven’t gotten out of here, so lots of things could still happen. I mean, I hope we’re not stuck with Kairi for another ten years, but there are still adventures for you to have. I believe it!” 

Ven’s eyes open and he smiles at Sora. “Yeah, I hope so, Sora. I’m not ready for this to be the end either.” He tugs at the emblem across his chest again. “Hey, tell me about your adventures.”

“They’re nothing as exciting as going to other worlds.” Sora’s nose wrinkles. “But, there have been some good ones on the play island. I’m the best storyteller.” He sits up straight again. “Like, the first time we brought Kairi out to the island, I told her all about how we’d get to sail the seas as pirates some day!”

Telling about their imaginary adventures, Sora keeps his eyes on Ven. The longer he talks about their silly imagined adventures, the better Ven looks.  _ Good. If he came to me for help, then I’m going to keep helping. _


	9. Chapter 9

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello, hello! Inspiration came soaring back for this fic thanks to some art I've seen around so have an update! The chapter after this is practically done too, so that'll go up in a week. Enjoy!

_ Glittering blue butterflies lead her deeper and deeper into a dark cave, echoing with the sounds of thundering waterfalls. ‘To the heart, to the heart, you’ll find them there…’ Kairi trips and stumbles over the roots, certain that she can hear them just ahead. She’s so close! _

_ She rounds the counter, twisting her ankle as she wrenches it free of another vine, and finds herself in an empty room. Even the butterflies are gone, flitting away into the dark of the cave. A breeze blows through the leaves, making the sound that she thought was their voices. Kairi hugs herself, digging her fingers into her arms until it hurts. ‘Sora, Riku!’ _

_ ‘Come home!’ _

**Thump!**

Kairi comes to as she bounces slightly up off her bunk. Everything is resettling, rattling a bit, and she rubs at her eyes. It feels like she only fell asleep minutes ago, but it has to have been hours if they’ve landed already. Or there’s a problem. This ship definitely has its problems. With a groan, she swings herself up and off her bunk. Tugging her clothes straight, she mutters to herself about buying sleep pants from some place soon.

Something small skitters over the floor and she bends down, holding a hand out. Chip hops onto it and she lifts him. “We’re back in Traverse Town,” he squeaks up at her. “Did you sleep well?”

“Close enough.” Kairi covers a yawn and carries him with her toward the exit. “Everything was okay on the flight back?”

“Easy as cracking peanuts!” Chip hops off her hand when she reaches the hatch. “Let us know when you find somebody to install that gummi. We’re not letting them wreck the ship trying to shove it in!”

She waves to him as he scrambles off, promising to clear any work with the two of them first. Popping out of the hatch, Kairi stretches her arms over her head. The gummi ship has room, but it really makes her feel like she needs to crouch a lot. Her back gives a little pop and she sighs. Dropping her arms, she rubs her back, and actually tries to locate her friends.

Goofy is standing a few feet away and waves to her. Donald is half hanging out of the cockpit for some reason, feet swinging through the air as he quacks away. Kairi coughs to hide her laugh and jogs the few steps over. “Everything okay?”

“Donald got a few things stuck behind his seat and thought he could get them easier this way.” Goofy smiles at her. “Not sure how having his feet off the ground helps, but Donald’s got all those courtly wizard brains.” He winks and Kairi covers another laugh.

“I can hear you!” Donald’s feet kick harder and then he drops with a loud squawk. “Got it!” He holds one wing high, showing off a staff.

“How did you drop that entire thing behind your seat? How did I not notice?” Kairi shakes her head. “What are you even going to do with it?”

Donald straightens himself up and jabs a feather at her. “Get a better one!” He turns and marches away, heading for the door into town proper.

Kairi shakes her head. “Grump.”

“That’s our Donald. Come on. Leon and those guys will be happy to see you, I’m sure.”

“You think they have that high of an opinion of me?” Kairi follows him toward the doors, folding her arms behind her back. “We weren’t here that long.”

Goofy shrugs. “Time’s not all that matters when making friends. Sometimes, it only takes a few minutes! But, I could tell Cid and them really like you, Kairi. Helps that you’re so friendly and helpful.”

She shrugs. “Like I was  _ not _ going to help with a monster problem when I’ve got a magic weapon? Come on, I’d have to be a huge jerk.”

“Exactly!” Goofy pats her shoulder. “That’s why people like ya.”

“Sure, Goofy.” Kairi doesn’t really follow his logic perfectly, but she gets the idea. She  _ is _ kind of excited to see everyone again. They push through the giant doors and already she feels a bit more at ease to see the lamplit square. She sighs. “Guess we should check the shop first. Cid supposedly knows everyone and everything.”

Donald grumbles. “You go check with him. I’m getting some spare munny for this thing.” He taps the staff against his other wing and then heads for the item shop. Goofy waves and follows Kairi up the stairs to the shop.

For a moment, she considers a grand heroic entrance: throwing the doors open to show how their marvelous hero has returned. But really, that’s silly. She giggles at herself and pushes one of the doors open like she normally would. “Hello? Anyone home?” She lets them inside and then smiles at the man behind the counter. “We’re back.”

“Any worlds still in one piece?” Cid shoots her a grin and leans forward to rest his arms on the counter. “Good to see you back, Kairi.”

“Bonus points for not calling me kid.” She taps the counter excitedly. “We’ve gotten a ton done so I hope you’re ready for it all.”

“Long stories without food aren’t worth it. You can tell us all over dinner.” Cid ruffles her hair up. “First-.”

Kairi holds her hand out. “Wait! Hold on, I do need to ask you something before we do anything else. Do you know anyone who could help us with these gummi blocks?” She points to Goofy who has already pulled the blocks out.

Cid leans forward. “Well, I’ll be. Aren’t those a fancy pair of blocks. They’re made for jumping further out into space. I could get them properly installed on that ship of yours.”

“Really?” Kairi grins. “I knew you were good for something.”

“Har har.” Cid waves a threatening hand toward her hair again. “First, I need you to run an errand for me. I’ll get those blocks installed while ya do that, alright?”

Kairi hums and squints at him. “What kind of favor?”

He turns and grabs a flat package from the shelf behind him. “I need someone to run this down to the third district. We’ve still got a few Heartless crawling around there so I haven’t wanted to send anyone unknowing. You take it over there, deliver it to that old house, and I should have the blocks done once you’re back.”

“That sounds simple.” Kairi reaches out to take the package. It feels almost exactly like a book and she tucks it under one arm. “Where in the third district?”

“Old house behind the door with the flame on it.” Cid wiggles his fingers. “Shoot a bit of fire at it and it’ll open right up. Keeps the monsters and nosy neighbors out.”

Flame door? Sure, alright. Kairi nods. “Got it. Thanks, Cid.”

Cid nods. “I’ll let the others know you’re around and we’ll get something nice together for tonight.” He scoops up the gummi blocks from Goofy and waves them toward the door. “Now get out.”

Grinning, Kairi does. Goofy, the chivalrous knight, takes the package from her as they wait for Donald to finish in the item shop. Only a few minutes later, he emerges, shoving several bottles into his pockets. Kairi can bug him about refilling the rest of their items beside ethers later. And she’s supposed to be the magic newbie. At least she knows about conservation! 

Cutting back across the square, it takes them no time at all to enter the third district. Of course, the door has barely thumped shut when several of the shadows writhe and Heartless pop out. “The work is never done,” Kairi mutters. But they’re all getting used to this and with a short fight, they’re clear to look around for the door.

There’s no reason for it to be behind the small fountain, but Kairi takes a peek anyway. She walks the length of the strange little path and then back, but there’s not even a window to peek into the buildings on either side. Traverse Town continues to be a strange place. Feet back on the street, she catches sight of Donald waving to her further down the alley. “Over here!” Goofy is already with him, so Kairi hurries to join them.

A door is waiting at the end of the alley, a large red flame painted onto it. “Oh!” Kairi reaches out to touch it, but it feels like regular wood. “Won’t it burn?”

Donald shrugs. “Probably not.” He pulls out his regular staff and clears his throat. “ _ Fire _ !” Flames leap from the tip to the door. They land on the flame, but instead of spreading, they shrink into the wood. The flame on the door glows and then the door slides open.

Kairi claps. She’ll never get tired of seeing magic. “Nice work.” Donald straightens up, but doesn’t actually gloat. She leads the way into the dark street beyond. Quickly, the sound of her shoes over paved stones changes to a strange echo. She walks a bit slower, waiting for her eyes to adjust. Do they not have street lamps here?

After a moment or two, she can make out shapes in the gloom. This is definitely not a natural part of the city. Kairi gapes a little to see a small pond with a house in the middle of it in a  _ cave _ . “This is so weird…”

“Wonder who lives all the way out here on their lonesome.” Goofy peers around. “Looks like someone who doesn’t mind some hopping. Those stones aren’t connected.” He points ahead of them. “Unless we want to swim for it, that’s how we get across.”

“That water has to be freezing. I’ll hop like a frog.” Kairi shivers, but walks up to the first stone waiting against the shore. It’s not small, which helps, but it’s oddly smooth for a naturally occurring stone. Eyeing it distrustfully, Kairi carefully steps out and onto it. It doesn’t bob or sink and she exhales. “Okay, not so bad.” She steps toward the edge closest to the next stone. The distance is no worse than the gaps between the wood platforms they hopped across to reach the cove. Yeah, she’s got this.

Kairi jumps to the next stone and lands on it with a slight stumble. She straightens easily, but her arms swing out as the stone underneath her jerks to the left. “What?!” It glides a short distance to the left and then starts back to the right. Kairi widens her stance and watches it slow and then reverse to go back to the left. “Okay, this is just...okay.” She pushes her hair out of her face with a quick motion. 

_ Back and forth, back and forth. _ Kairi watches the stone under her and then moves closer to its edge. As she gets close, the next stone starts to move too. She watches, looking to see when they line up. It’s not hard to see and the next time they get close, she jumps, landing on the third stone. “It’s like a game,” she calls. 

“Don’t fall in!” Goofy calls back.

“Doing my best!” Kairi eyes the last two jumps. It’s wider, but she’s got a good feel for it now. With two long leaps, she’s on solid land again. She cheers as Donald and Goofy join her. “Nice work, team.” They chuckle at her and then the three of them face the rundown house. Kairi stares at the long, heavy boards nailed over the door. “Um...what do we do about that?”

Donald quacks. “Hope there’s a back door.” He starts stomping around the house and Kairi and Goofy follow. It’s a really rundown looking building, all round with a roof that reminds her of a mushroom. It’s strange and doesn’t match the rest of Traverse Town much at all.

“Here!” Donald shoves aside an old curtain that’s been carelessly hung inside the building to cover a very large hole in the side. “Who lives like this?” The duck grumbles as he goes inside. Goofy holds it aside for Kairi, but she can’t help but duck so she doesn’t touch the curtain at all.

Inside is just as derelict as the outside, dusty and empty and abandoned. She can hear Donald complaining about being sent on a joke errand, but Kairi tunes him out, looking up. She can’t see the inside of the roof, just the wooden ceiling, but as she looks around, dust stirring under her feet, it’s like she can feel  _ something  _ in the very air of this place. The cool air from the water outside, the stone walls…

“What’s this?”

The voice, so familiar, so excited seems to echo in the small room. Kairi whirls around and Sora’s standing there, one hand to the wall. He looks at her, blinks, and then grins widely. “You know what this reminds me of? The secret place! I bet you could draw on these walls too.” His eyes are so bright, even in the dim light, and Kairi can only stare at him.

Sora brushes a hand over the wall as if to clear a spot and then looks at her again. “You remember when I showed it to you, right?”

He’s so real, so solid. Has he been hiding here? Waiting for someone to save him from the Heartless? Why wouldn’t he say something the second they walked in? Kairi stumbles forward, hand going out to grab his arm. “Sora!”

Her fingers close on empty air, his image disappearing in a blink.  _ Just an illusion. I want him to be here. _ Kairi swallows the lump in her throat and crosses her arms tightly over her chest.  _ I just want them both to be here with me, so we can go home. _

“Kairi?” Goofy asks, but she can’t think of an answer. She might be losing her mind.

“Well, well,” another voice says, much older. Kairi looks up in muted surprise to see an old man with a long white beard standing near the curtain. “You all arrived much sooner than I expected.” He’s dressed like some kind of wizard straight out of a book of fairytales and Kairi thinks he might be the weirdest person she’s seen yet.

She squeezes her arms and clears her throat. “How did you know we were coming?”

The man smiles at her, noticeable even through his long beard. “I’m a sorcerer,” he says as if that’s all the answer any of them could need. “My name is Merlin. Your king has requested my help, so here I am.” He moves away from the gap in the wall to set his bag up on the platform in the center of the room. “I’ll need to set this place up properly again, but you three must be here for a reason. Donald and Goofy I know, but who are you, my dear?”

Kairi offers him a hand. “I’m Kairi.”

“Ah, our new keyblade bearer.” Merlin smiles and pats her hand. “What’s brought you here?”

“Cid had a package for you.” Kairi looks over and Goofy is already holding it out. “It feels like a book.”

“A book is it?” Merlin takes the package, pushing his glasses up his nose. “Ah, you’re correct. But this is no ordinary book.” He pulls off the paper, revealing a storybook that has been through some rough handling. The pages look ready to fall out, what ones are left anyway. “This book actually holds a world within its pages. Unfortunately, it looks as if the Heartless noticed. They’ve stolen several of them away.”

A world in a book? Well, they always said that reading was an escape. Kairi frowns as she looks at the state of it.  _ We really need to stop all of the Heartless. They can’t keep doing this. _ “Is there anything that can fix it?”

Merlin tucks the book under one arm. “Of course! All things can be fixed. But I’ll need the missing pages to truly restore it. Maybe you’ll be able to find some while you’re out saving the worlds.” His free hand flicks again and then he’s holding a long wand. “Let me get this place looking more like an actual home.”

_ Saving the worlds sounds so grand and wonderful. All I want is-. _ Kairi shakes her head and then jumps back in surprise as an entire couch goes dancing in front of her. Furniture, tiny furniture is flying out of Merlin’s bag, dancing as it grows to full size and then settles into whatever place it finds. It only takes a couple minutes and then the entire house looks different. It’s cozy and warm...and still has a curtain over the big gap in the wall. 

For some reason, it makes her smile. 

Merlin lowers his wand and then sets the book on a little stand against the wall. “If you do find any pages, please bring them back here.”

“We’ll be searching every cranny for Kairi’s friends. Of course we’ll bring those there pages back too!” Goofy snaps a salute and Kairi’s smile widens.

“Yeah, yeah, you big palooka. Let’s go already!” Donald shoves at Goofy, pushing him toward the exit and Kairi follows. She waves to Merlin who waves back, taking a seat in his warm, cozy little house.

It reminds her not at all of the secret place at home now, but the cave around it does. She takes a breath as they move to cross the sliding rocks again. Donald and Goofy jump ahead, leaving her alone for a moment on the tiny shore.

“Riku, Sora, I’ll find you. I promise.”


	10. Chapter 10

The neon lights of the third district are almost shockingly bright after the dim cave. Kairi shades her eyes, but for once the shadows aren’t immediately clawing their way free of the ground. She drops the hand and stretches her arms out in front of her. “That was weird.”

“What kind of wizard lives in a dirty old cave?” Donald grumbles. “Who can he help from there? Useless showoff.”

It sounds like old, and not worth engaging with, complaints. Kairi looks at Goofy instead. “Do you think we should head back to Cid’s shop? Or should we go to the Inn and see if Leon and the others have dinner ready? I’m starving.”

Goofy hums and then shrugs. “Wherever you want to go Kairi. We’ll see Cid at dinner for certain. He’s a pretty good cook!”

“Better than Aerith,” Kairi says with a grin. “She reminds me of the things we’d dare to do to each other with leftovers at lunch. You mix together the weirdest stuff and sometimes...you didn’t want to immediately die.”

“That sounds...good?” Goofy is looking at her in confusion and Kairi laughs.

“School brings out the weird. You’re stuck in a building for hours and hours.” Kairi moves forward, planning to head to the doors for the second district. Goofy’s right that they’ll see Cid at dinner and he can let them know how things are with the ship. They can leave tomorrow for whatever world is next.

They’re almost to the stairs when something hisses from the shadows. Kairi almost swears out of pure frustration. Can they not just  _ walk _ places without being attacked here? She turns, keyblade coming to her hand, and can see the Soldier lurching toward them.

Something comes crashing down from the stairs above her, striking the Soldier hard enough to make it explode into wisps of darkness. Kairi gapes as the figure straightens up. She’d recognize his hair anywhere and when Riku turns and flips it out of his face, she doesn’t hesitate. “Riku!” She throws herself forward, grabbing him in a hug.

“Whoa, Kairi!” Riku stumbles backward and grabs her with one arm. “I save you from a monster and you repay me by beating me up?” But there’s a smile in his voice and when she looks up at him, his expression is bright and excited. His other arm wraps around her and they share a tight hug.

Kairi pulls back first and pokes him in the chest. “Saved me nothing. I was ready for it.”

“Oh, really? You sure about that?” Riku arches an eyebrow. “You never really wanted to train with us.”

She rolls her eyes. “Because there’s better things to do than whack each other with sticks on the beach! Ugh, boys.” Kairi takes a step back, looking him over. “You’re okay? On the island…”  _ Darkness wrapped around him and would have dragged her in too except… _

Riku brushes himself off, flips his hair back again, and then puts his hands on his hips. “I’m fine, don’t worry about it. It took me forever to find you.” He looks behind her and frowns. His eyes seem darker when they meet hers again. Kairi folds her hands behind her back before they can tighten into fists. “Is Sora not with you?”

Kairi shakes her head. “I thought I saw him that night, but he disappeared. He’s not with you? You two are always together.” She thought, maybe, she’d find them together and it’d be easy.

He shakes his head. “I didn’t see him that night. I haven’t seen him anywhere out here either.” Riku flips a hand through the air carelessly. “Well, don’t worry. I’m sure he’s off on his own adventure and looking for us too. We’ll all be together again soon.” He turns and takes a couple steps away from Kairi, looking up toward the sky. “It’s great though, right? We’re finally free, just like we wanted.”

_ Like you wanted _ , something whispers in Kairi’s mind.  _ We just wanted you to be happy. _ She presses her lips together. No! He is happy and once they’re together again, they can go home. Riku will have had his adventure and they can go back to where it’s safe and they don’t have to worry about each other. She looks away from him, making herself take a breath. The shadows by the stairs are twitching again and she quickly calls her keyblade back.

“Don’t worry,” Riku repeats, not turning to look at her, not noticing the danger. “Leave it all to me, Kairi. I’ll protect you.” The Shadow lunges for him and Kairi steps forward. Riku turns at the noise, but she’s already slicing it in half. Kairi checks the shadows, making sure there aren’t any other golden eyes waiting. “Kairi…”

She looks at him and doesn’t have to force the grin that splits her face. “I don’t  _ need _ protecting, Riku. Come on, give me some credit. You think I’ve just been waiting for you to come rescue me?” Kairi lowers the keyblade and holds it out for him to see. “I’ve been looking for you guys too and helping people, thanks to this. Goofy and Donald have been helping me out.”

Riku looks at the keyblade in her hand and then looks at Donald and Goofy who both wave, politely waiting for them to finish their reunion. Kairi smiles at them gratefully.

“I never would have guessed,” Riku says, voice strangely flat. He holds a hand out. “Can I see it? What is it anyway?”

Kairi rolls her eyes, but passes it to him. Riku’s clearly still moody, adventure or no adventure. Well, he’ll get used to Donald and Goofy. They’re nice people, even if they’re rather strange. “It’s a keyblade.”

“Kairi’s a chosen keyblade wielder. That makes her special,” Goofy says, brightly.

She flushes. “I don’t know where it came from. That night on the island…it just appeared.”

“A keyblade wielder, huh?” Riku lifts it, flowery end pointed toward the stars. “We always knew you were different, Kairi.” He lowers it again and tosses it back to her.

Kairi catches it and slings it over her back instead of making it vanish. If the Heartless are still crawling around, she’d rather have its comforting warmth right there. “Who knows if everyone from my old world can use it. We haven’t seen it yet.” She shrugs. “Maybe we’ll find it while you’re with us. Then we could show it to Sora together.” She smiles at him, trying to see one from him in return.

Riku’s lips curl up slightly, but that bright excitement from when she first saw him again is dimmer. “Right,” he says.

“We don’t have room,” Donald says out of nowhere. “He can’t come with us.”

“What,” Kairi snaps, whirling to look at him. “The whole point is to find my friends and you won’t let one of them come with me? What’s the matter with you?!”

Donald backs up a step, slightly cowed, but then crosses his arms. “The gummi ship isn’t big enough. He can stay here while we look for your other friend and the king.”

“It’s plenty big enough! He’s just one more person!” Kairi is going to strangle him. She lifts a hand.

“It’s fine, Kairi. I can take care of myself.” Riku has already turned, putting his back to them, and walking toward the doors to the first district. “Don’t get yourself into trouble with those two since they won’t let me watch your back.”

“Riku!” Kairi follows after him, grabbing his arm. It burns, something sizzling under her hand, and she wrenches it back. “Ow! Hey, Riku, come on. Can we please make sure we see each other? I want to know that you’re okay.”

He stops walking and takes a breath. When he looks over his shoulder at her, his smile is so obviously forced that it’s insulting. “Sure, Kairi. Anytime I’m here, I’ll wait a day or leave you a note, okay?”

“O-Okay.”  _ Something’s wrong. Something’s wrong with him, just like back home. _ Kairi folds her arms, hiding her hands in case they’re shaking a bit. “I’ll do the same. And if either of us finds Sora, we come back here right away.”

“Right away,” Riku agrees. “I’ve got stuff to do so, I’ll see you later.” He walks away quickly, slipping through the door once it’s open just wide enough for him. It thumps back shut and Kairi covers her face with her hands.

_ Something’s wrong, Sora. I hope we find you soon because I think you might be the only one who can get through to him. _ Kairi makes herself breathe and promises herself that she can cry a little later, when she’s alone. She straightens up and turns around to glare at Donald. “If you want me to help you find your king, then you better listen. I will help, I will do anything I can to help people, but if you try to keep me from my friends, then the whole deal is over. I’ll  _ fly _ through space before I leave them behind.” She takes a breath and then turns toward the stairs. “I’m going to the Inn.”

“We’ll see you there in a bit,” Goofy answers, one hand holding Donald to his side. She can only hope that he’s about to tell the duck off for being so dumb.

Kairi nods to them and leaves.  _ Riku can look after himself when it comes to the Heartless. At least, I really hope so. _

* * *

“You see? It’s just as I told you. While you toiled away trying to find your dear friend, she replaced you both with new companions. Evidently, now she values them more than you.” Standing on a shadowed balcony, Maleficent looks like part of the shadows, only her face glowing slightly from the dark. Riku can only just see her hands, one wrapped around her staff, the other stroking some creature on her shoulder. 

He looks away, back down to the square of Traverse Town. It’s a place full of lost souls, except the one he’s looking for. “She argued with them. She still cares.”

“Not enough to follow you instead of them. You’re better off without that wretched girl. Think no more of her, and come with me.” She smiles at him, her sharp lips anything but friendly.

Riku looks at her flatly. He knows she wants to use him, wants him to give  _ her  _ something. He doesn’t know what it is, but Maleficent and her strange friends are clearly trying to do something for the worlds. He doesn’t care really. His home world is gone. All he needs are his friends.

Maleficent leans forward a bit, offering him her hand. “Come now, boy, I’ll help you find what you’re searching for…”  _ For a price. _

But what other choice does he have? She was the only one in that place where he woke up that wasn’t a monster. She might be a witch, but he needs her to find Sora. Riku doesn’t take her hand, but nods.

She chuckles, stands, and then opens a doorway writhing with darkness for the two of them. Riku follows her into it, refusing to look back. Kairi can look after herself.


End file.
